I will admit that I did not think that the US targeted China in hacks, and I wasn't really aware of the amounts of data the government has on my interweb communications. But I think that was because of my relative naivety. These things certainly are not shocking or great revelations. If I were in the government's position, I would probably do the same--as potentially egregious as that may sound to some people. The primary goal of the government is to protect its citizens. We may lose some of our privacy, but when matched with external and internal threats, the latter outweighs the former any day. We always seem to have 1984 in mind when in reality, government, and the fellow citizens working in agencies such as the NSA, FBI, are created to accomplish their number one duty--to protect its citizens. Especially in the already established political system of the US, there is little to fear of some dictatorial revolution. It could be argued that in joining a society, we inherently forfeit our rights of privacy.

I don't think Snowden is necessarily a bad guy either who should be tried for espionage. I see both sides. Snowden's actions have at least given the populace something to think about. At the end of the day, however, little will change. I'm sure the Chinese knew we were hacking them, just as the EU knew we bugged them(unless they are both completely incompetent). The US has its flaws--but, I think, there are much bigger fish to fry if Snowden is really acting out of righteousness. In the end, this will inevitably be more about Snowden than anything else--just like how Manning and Assange share the spotlight.