Reply to post: What he did.

What he did.

Snowdon breached the trust of his employer, and stole information to which he was not entitled, perhaps he might have gotten away with it, if it had just been evidence of the government breaching the rights of the citizen, but he didn't, he also stole information on everything. No matter what good you may have think he has done, it does not counter balance the bad. He not only gave away US secrets he gave away those of other countries, and jeopardised the US relationship with its allies. It is well known that they all spy on each other, it is well known that security agencies monitor chatter in their own and foreign countries.

If you consider the activities of the NSA, in the context of what law enforcement and security services have always been able to do, yes storing the information themselves may be a bit over the top, but actually before the internet, telephone companies recorded the "Meta Data" of phone calls for billing, which were then harvested, as and when a need arose. What would you say the internet equivalent is, keeping details of who eMails who, who messages who. As internet traffic is not billed like telephone calls, who the keeps the data, the ISPs don't need it, nor is there any economic reason they should, thus government has to. Do you really think any government would leave a communications channel completely unmonitored, what do you think would happen if they did.

Why on earth would you expect this not to happen? Think really carefully about how you expect your law enforcement agencies and security services to behave, and what they need to do, to protect you, and indeed their allies. None of them are in the slightest bit interested in any of us, they have neither the wherewithal, the time, or the money, and never will in any western democracy.