I greatly dislike the NSA and think they should be dismantled. So let me take a moment to think outside of that box...
Page 9 of that report essentially says 'we read all your social media, browsing, and email'. I've always been ok with corporations doing this because they'll never kick down my door in the middle of then night, unlike governments. But the NSA isn't kicking down doors either (not that I've heard of). Even their most famous malware (Stuxnet and Flame) were carefully designed only to screw over certain people. Sure, they're grey-hats; testing systems and not reporting bugs. But they're not yet black hats. They haven't been caught yet fucking over innocent people (I think we can agree the Iranian nuclear program doesn't qualify as innocent people, though again an act of war against it isn't exactly white-hat activity).
Maybe they're not guilty until they commit a more egregious crime?
Probably not. Probably they're still a negative influence in the world. But it's interesting to consider other perspectives.
Page 9 of that report essentially says 'we read all your social media, browsing, and email'. I've always been ok with corporations doing this because they'll never kick down my door in the middle of then night, unlike governments. But the NSA isn't kicking down doors either (not that I've heard of). Even their most famous malware (Stuxnet and Flame) were carefully designed only to screw over certain people. Sure, they're grey-hats; testing systems and not reporting bugs. But they're not yet black hats. They haven't been caught yet fucking over innocent people (I think we can agree the Iranian nuclear program doesn't qualify as innocent people, though again an act of war against it isn't exactly white-hat activity).
Maybe they're not guilty until they commit a more egregious crime?
Probably not. Probably they're still a negative influence in the world. But it's interesting to consider other perspectives.