[appleflaxen]

And here is one of the many problems with government surveillance: prior to the Snowden papers, I would be completely open-minded about the legitimacy of these actions.

But knowing what we know now about the scope of extra-judicial surveillance, I am incredibly grateful that the journalists blew the whistle.

The US government and all of its actors have lost the presumption of good faith, and it's a useful thing to possess.

[ethanbond]

Serious question: Why? All we really know is that the US is dragnetting as much data as they possibly can. Have there been any solid exposures as far as actual misuse of the data? Not just hypotheticals (as realistically scary as they are), but real abuses which have already occurred?

[DanBC]

Last year someone was fired by GCHQ for wrongful access of data.

http://stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/11850150.MPs_to_repor...

> In a long-awaited report on privacy and security, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) reveals MI5, MI6 and GCHQ have disciplined or in some cases dismissed staff for inappropriately accessing personal information obtained through bulk data collection.

[ethanbond]

Ah, very solid example. Thanks!