What most people already suspected. There is no privacy.
Everything you say or write within view of, or earshot of cameras and microphones can be observed if someone with access to these government programs wants to.
The US government, and multiple allied governments had the ability to do things like listen to everyone’s phone calls, read their texts, their emails, follow their internet searches, track their locations (via GPS in phones) and also remotely activate people’s cell phone cameras and microphones to listen and see what people are doing in real time.
In short, it was estimated that the data revealed that the US and it’s allies had transparency into roughly 80% of all digital communications in the US.
It’s less that this was “Bad” honestly, more that these agencies shouldn’t have been doing A. to US Citizens, and B. on US soil and C. that the major data providers, the Verizons, AT&Ts, etc, were providing the “keys” to their networks for the government to provide this access.
Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.