Let's say that the EFF wins. Let's say it exceeds its wildest dreams. How do you know it had any effect? Until the next Snowden comes along, you don't. And I'

Let's say that the EFF wins. Let's say it exceeds its wildest dreams. How do you know it had any effect? Until the next Snowden comes along, you don't. And I'm sure there won't be any more Snowdens. The NSA is going to redo its systems so that nobody can get anything out. This isn't a stretch of the imagination. They obviously have plenty of very technically talented people working there, and they'll get much stricter with access controls now. Democratic processes cannot change a fundamentally undemocratic system. Secret courts, secret laws, secret executive orders, none of it is even a pretense of democracy. And so, nothing the EFF does can save you. Nothing you can do within the political system can save you, because it is a rigged game, or more accurately, an irrelevant game. It does not matter who wins or loses. It is not the game the NSA plays. ============================================= I'm sure people will ask what my solution is. I wish that I had one, and I hope that you realize the fallacy in insisting that until a more comfortable solution is in front of you, the "solution" you have that will obviously not work should be invested in without any faint expectation of a return. There is one thing you can do that's simple, though: Don't work for them. Don't work for SAIC. Don't work for Booz Allen. Don't work for the NSA. Without people like us, without engineers, they can't do anything. And more then that: If you have a friend from undergrad, if you meet someone at a meetup or a hackfest or in a bar that says they work for the NSA, directly or indirectly, treat them like the Statsi agent they are, spit in their face and tell them they're not welcome in your life. Make sure they know that they aren't doing a good thing or the right thing. Make sure they know how utterly, baselessly evil they are. That's one solution. It's not as blandly palatable as donating to the EFF, but it's one that's less of a waste of your time.