There have been little hints like this throughout the recent articles. Yet people say "stop whining about what they _could_ do; they're not actually doing it."

There have been little hints like this throughout the recent articles. Yet people say "stop whining about what they _could_ do; they're not actually doing it."* Well, there's enough evidence they _are actually_ "fighting crime" with intelligence data (see the Reuters story about DEA, IRS, etc. getting tips from NSA.) Even if not, who can honestly think a system, where a spy agency collects everything from everyone and is allowed to hand it off for domestic criminal investigations, is a good idea? *And yeah, I do try to keep in perspective life as an American is pretty good. But "we're not as bad as those guys" or "we're currently using our extraordinary powers pretty responsibly" are dangerous excuses to have when expanding power...