Edward Snowden steals the show

[TheMadMonk]

14. Given what we know of the organisations those people...

...signed up to work for, I'm not feeling much sympathy for them now.

Even if one were to allow that the American people signed onto the PATRIOT act with their vote, (a specious argument given that one neither votes for acts of Congress or agency policies) they did so labouring under false apprehensions.

1. They were told every safeguard was in place to protect the privacy of Americans;
2. They were categorically told that NO CONTENT was being intercepted or stored.
   We have since learnt of at least one exemption which puts the lie to that claim. All encrypted content is captured and retained. This means EVERY Skype conversation and all VPN traffic just for starters. And since it is the quintessential "man in the middle", key exchange is a joke as far as NSA is concerned.
3. Obama PROMISED AS A KEY CAMPAIGN PLATFORM to dismantle THESE EXACT PROGRAMS.