> This is precisely why there was minimal reaction to the Snowden revelations - what revelations? Or perhaps the 1984 Orwellian explanation - fear of surveilla

> This is precisely why there was minimal reaction to the Snowden revelations - what revelations? Or perhaps the 1984 Orwellian explanation - fear of surveillance curtails dissent. E.g. perhaps there was minimal reaction because while people had always joked about the Govt. reading their messages, when Snowden revealed it was utterly true, and way worse than anyone had supposed, they became afraid to voice dissent about surveillance. They were right to fear this as Snowden's stated reason for whistleblowing was not the existence of mass surveillance but because the mass surveillance was not for national security but its primary goal was to protect the program of mass surveillance. Snowden revealed this: that the primary mission of the spying was to keep the spying secret and those who opposed the spying faced the greatest extra-legal retaliatory attacks. [1] As the recent cataclysmic cyber attacks have shown national defense was not a priority for those 3 letter agencies developing weaponised exploits. The weaponised exploits they screwed us all over by letting fall into the wrong hands, e.g. Wannacry an American state sponsored cyber-weapon funded by US tax-payer monies that wrecked the UK's National Health Service and now threatens international shipping - oopsie. [1] Snowden outlines his reasons for turning whistleblower in this conversation with Chomsky & Greenwald https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOksJKfapVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOksJKfapVM