I am getting the odd sense that some don't like Snowden because he made the establishment look bad

[JDPriestly]

136. The government did not track our mail until recently.

That is the problem.

The government is over-stepping.

It is invading our privacy.

The government does not need to scrutinize the contents of our correspondence because with computers, it can apply mathematical formulas to analyze the lists of e-mail addresses with whcih we correspond, the phone numbers we call, the "friends" we have on Facebook, etc. and categorize us and then feed us information that will influence us according to who we are, what category we fit in. And if we are journalists or lawyers or scientists, the government can collect lists of our contacts from all our electronic sources and also the contents of all our communications by merely applying to the FISA court which is entirely overseen by Chief Justice Roberts -- entirely.

The government can, because of the data it can collect, blackmail people including its own employees, members of Congress, people serving in local government. Of course it won't need to bother to do that much because if it controls a few of the opinion-makers, it gets total control.
The gentle big brother, but nevertheless the big brother.

And the press, lawyers and others who have an obligation to represent and present positions that may be unpopular with the government will suffer the most.

I read in an article that was linked to from DU that scientists employed by a government agency were subjected to precisely the kind of deep surveillance that I am describing. Why? Because the government did not like the results that the scientists were disseminating from their work.

This is an extremely dangerous program.

It is not necessary to have a program of this magnitude, secrecy and depth in order to obtain pen registers in specific criminal investigations or to obtain the records of terrorists.

This program is aimed at the control through surveillance and social mapping or American citizens. Are we a free people? Not as long as this program is in place.