The type of data-collection that is being reported is very troubling to me--so is the access to that data-collection (evidently); I just don't like the idea of troves of data with which the government (or their agents or, I guess, some GED dipstick) could mine at some later time for whatever ends. Lots of liberals and libertarians still have trouble with the whole idea of whistle-blowing--some regard it as a betrayal--but really, for me, the greater betrayal is to go against one's principals. And in my opinion one can still be a patriot for their country, even if they betray their government. Snowden seems to be going it about it in a somewhat honorable way, he's not really revealing secrets so much as secret programs--the secrets are still secret--just not the mechanism through which they were obtained. It may have been a mistake for him to out-himself, as he becomes the story, and his motives become part of the equation with which the publicly will decide where justice actually lies. The old adage, if you sacrifice freedom for security, you will have neither, seems appropriate. Fun fact: Amazon's sale of Orwell's 1984 has significantly gone up.