To many people, I&#x27;m sure. But to anyone following certain organizations (the EFF comes to mind), Snowden basically &quot;pulled the curtains open&quot; on what was somewhat known for quite some time (perhaps not to the <i>depth</i> that Snowden revealed, but people knew that there was some computer surveillance going on before Snowden.)<p>The EFF has a timeline of quotes &#x2F; stories that basically extend back to the September 11th attacks.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eff.org&#x2F;nsa-spying&#x2F;timeline" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eff.org&#x2F;nsa-spying&#x2F;timeline</a><p>I personally don&#x27;t think paranoia, though. To me, this whole collecting data on <i>everyone</i> instead of targeted individuals is more this: a huge data storage that is both subject to both internal abuse (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;LOVEINT" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;LOVEINT</a>) and data leaks (Snowden); a wasteful process that didn&#x27;t really stop a lot of terrorist attacks (eg, San Bernadino, the Boston Marathon bombings, Fort Hood, the Charleston church, etc.); a process that damaged America&#x27;s reputation considerably (even from a pure business perspective); etc. Honestly, the NSA spying appears to end up being a colossal waste of resources and a general failure overall.<p>If some NSA database records this opinion, good. :)