[webjames]

Disempowerment is a common theme here - it is the case that the 'general public' (read majority non-technical) are concerned about the current and future ramifications of this surveillance but feel disempowered because of how widespread it is, and i think this is because it is difficult to make reasonable changes in the immediate term to effect anything. This is of course excluding publicising/talking about the issues from a political point of view.

If telecoms company A proved to be betraying the trust of its customers, customers might find it reasonable to move their custom to telecoms company B - however the issue is that if both telecoms company A and B are both guilty of surveillance there is no feasible choice for the consumer.

The same can be said about political parties. If all major political parties support mass surveillance there is no viable alternative to support.

[rubyfan]

Interesting theme on despair. I think it goes a little deeper - perhaps people feel disenfranchised by establishment politics as well. It gets worse if you assume Teleco A-Z are always watching; you could go the Tor route or GPG or Wickr or Telegram - but ultimately the level of espionage being carried out and for so long makes you wonder if any of the privacy solutions are for real. Sounds a bit paranoid but as we've seen the onion peeled back by Snowden it is quite clear.

I can imagine some will feel censored to a degree. There is some stigma to knowing about privacy and technology. Try talking to a lamen even casually and you might as well be wearing a tin foil hat. Even @moxie's recent thread on HN echoes that.