This article wasn't written for the NSA's benefit, it was written for the average person who might actually believe that terrorists are plotting their next atta

This article wasn't written for the NSA's benefit, it was written for the average person who might actually believe that terrorists are plotting their next attack on Gmail/Skype/Facebook and thinks the NSA is justified in performing this surveillance. This implies two options: the NSA really are idiots and don't know this (unlikely), or they are well aware of this but are using terrorism as an excuse to do the surveillance anyway.