There is a line somewhere on the time horizon -- and I am pretty sure we have already crossed it -- where everything you say on any telephonic connection (phone

There is a line somewhere on the time horizon -- and I am pretty sure we have already crossed it -- where everything you say on any telephonic connection (phone, Skype, LINE, whatever) has to be presumed to be not only recorded and archived, but ultimately usable in court in the future (after they make the special court for retroactive wiretap warrants). Unencrypted email, chat, etc also. We (some would say "they" but as an American I think we citizens still bear the responsibility for what our government does -- the democracy is still mostly functional) already have the capability to record and store it all[1]. The US government doesn't admit to doing it, but I think it would be hopelessly naive to think they are not doing it (even where it isn't legal -- ever since G.W. Bush cemented the "torture first, ask permission later" doctrine after 9/11, this is how the USA rolls). I also feel the outrage fatigue supercanuck mentions, but I think there is a more pragmatic takeaway -- don't say anything on the phones anymore, don't write things in chats or insecure emails anymore, unless you are comfortable with those things being made public and/or used against you in court in the year 2025. I think that is probably already the reality -- and if not, it will be very soon. I used to feel this way when I went to China (as in, oh ha ha, those emails you sent me at my Chinese hotel about "Did you get my FedEx of material for the underground pro-democracy freedom fighters to expose the Tiananman Square massacre?" were really fucking funny, asshole), but I didn't in the USA. Now I do. [1]: the data center GoodIntentions points out in this thread is fascinating, and yet only one of the facilities for this kind of thing