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> We have reached a point where, no matter how few violations occur and no matter how innocuous they may be, the average person will always believe the NSA is doing things that are much more extreme than what is reported. This goes both ways: no matter how many violations occur and no matter how harmful they may be, the average NSA defender will always believe the NSA is doing things that are much less extreme than what is reported, often with legalist distractions from the appropriateness of the NSA's actions. > The secret nature of the NSA (and all intelligence gathering) simply means rational people will always be able to justify fears of conspiracy, tyranny, and Big Brother (now that the Snowden revelations have come to light). Rational people who happen to have no protection from the USG's overreach—foreigners, journalists, whistleblowers, tech companies, foreigner business owners, and the relatives, friends, coworkers, employees of those people—would like to not have to be afraid of the NSA and the USG. As it stands, it's easy to not be afraid of the NSA when you're not in the line of fire; when you're an unknown American citizen with no practical political influence, who does not run a business, who is not employed by or owns a company targeted for industrial espionage, who is not a relative or acquaintance of someone being investigated, who is not in a NSA employee's bad side, etc. |