I wish I could mod up because fennecfoxen has succinctly stated the crucial point. We really don't even need the NSA shut down, or for it to stop the mass surv

I wish I could mod up because fennecfoxen has succinctly stated the crucial point. We really don't even need the NSA shut down, or for it to stop the mass surveillance, in order to have secure and confidential communications. Mass wiretapping is evil but it is not such a threat as long as we are legally and practically free to work around it. The latter freedom is what the government is now attacking. Th US currently has no statute prohibiting "encrypted-hosting service designs [without] a backdoor for the government and the service provider", nor is there any statute commanding individual 'A' to enable the government to cryptographically impersonate 'A' online to deceive 'B'. But now, the USG has practically effected these policies by secret orders approved only by secret courts, with threats of prison for even revealing the existence of such orders, and preventing the subjects from challenging the legal basis in public courts according to Constitutional principles. This really has profound implications. Do you have a right to run software of your own choice on your own server, to provide a service that enables the fundamental human right to confidential communications? This is an important measure of the descent into fascism, totalitarianism, police state, or whatever you want to call it, and further trashing of the rule of law.