Honestly its getting scary the more you learn and dig in to this stuff. With the NSA going after the TOR networks, Lavabit closing, PRISM ETC it is increasingly clear that the USA is already or quickly becoming a straight police state. I am getting out, my long term plan is to move up to Canada in the next few years and I am getting off the tech grid. Getting out of google land, I am running my own servers for everything. I have already replaced Dropbox, Gmail and google docs with other alternatives that I control. (I can go in to more depth if you like on how to get off the grid and control your data) Personally I don't care much for conspiracy theory, but I have enough of an IT background to really understand this stuff, and it is WORSE than reported. Don't trust your data to the US!
PS Arm yourself with knowledge!
https://www.eff.org/ http://lavabit.com/
I thought people knew that the minute they enter information into the digital domain, whatever it may be, that you're basically calling into question any form of privacy.
I simply assumed my email and any form of communication I was using was being surveilled. During the Cold War with the USSR (Russia), it was assumed that everything you wrote in snail mail could and would be opened. PRISM is an extension of this. I couldn't think of a better intelligence gathering mechanism than the internet.
I remember being aware of this when I first began to use the internet heavily around 2000, when purchased my first product off Amazon.com. It was like "Well, my credit card's in the system now. So I guess this is it."
Privacy is an illusion. If you want to work within the confines of society, you have to use the internet and utilize what all the other sheep use.
Everything you say, even this forum, can be surveilled and datamined. It's nuts but true. From there they can apply algorithms that try to predict activity, market to us or spy on us. It's not going to change, it's actually going to get worse.
All I can say is watch what you do in the digital domain, because you can't erase it once it's in the internet ether.
I'm not into all that bullshit NWO crap. I just think people with power want more power. And this is an example of folks gathering intel on us to predict shit or surveil us.
They've been gathering our credit card histories and purchases for years. So I don't know why this is such a surprise. Personally I found it creepy that Google was using what I wrote about in Gmail to market shit to me. I remember there was an uproar. Ten years later, it's the norm.
As far as getting off the grid. Good luck man, but I don't know how you stay a functioning member of society. Also, you don't think the NSA could get you on your own personal servers. Ever heard about hacking a computer through the electrical outlet? Yep, don't believe me Google that shit. I don't care how encrypted your shit is. These cats run decryption against foreign governments with the same capabilities. Are you telling me that your technical expertise in encryption and security is up to par with that of the Chinese or Russian intelligence services who do this shit on a daily basis and recruit the best and the brightest to hack and find shit all the time.
Whatever, man. It is what it is.