My biggest problem with this is that it’s wrong to focus solely or even primarily on the NSA. GCHQ may have a smaller budget but their spying is no less pernicious. I don’t even know what the Chinese equivalent is, but I’m sure they have one, as do the KGused-to-be. Even the Germans who got so up in arms about Merkel’s phone being bugged are out there trying to do the same things.
This is a structural problem, not a problem with one three-letter agency. Yes, the NSA’s programs ought to be reined in but even if we were 100% successful against the NSA that would be like killing one roach in an infested kitchen. The kitchen needs scrubbing, needs holes plugged, needs ongoing maintenance. That, more than killing one roach, is what we ought to be working for.
