At U.N., Brazil's Rousseff blasts U.S. spying as breach of law

[bemildred]

45. These things do tend to snowball, once they get started.

I would suggest that what is and is not "standard procedure" is precisely what is in dispute.

And I would suggest that a certain attentiveness to ones friends and neighbors affairs is indeed to be expected, even desired.

And yet it is easy to see that this can be carried too far, just as with ones neighbors in the real world. Few will want you to watch them all the time, or think it's a friendly thing to do. Such interests are intrusive and suggest an unhealthy or prurient desire for control and domination. You want to know too much.

And THAT is the issue here, the issue of measure, judgement, and appropriateness of the surveillance attempted, and the question of the good judgement of the parties responsible and the lack of oversight of the organizations they run.