"releasing these details simply doesn't help the cause of fixing the NSA's less savoury incursions" -- of course it doesn't. Why would anyone expect that? At

"releasing these details simply doesn't help the cause of fixing the NSA's less savoury incursions" -- of course it doesn't. Why would anyone expect that? At least, I'm not convinced there is any realistic prospect of NSA's programmes, or other similar abuses being "fixed" in the forseeable future. Meanwhile, everyone, US and others alike, needs and is rightfully entitled to secure communications (in a moral sense, not to be confused with the laws of particular states). Unless there is some guarantee that the methods exposed could never be used improperly, exposing them is a vital public service.