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Should you be concerned about the NSA’s surveillance programs?

Government surveillance, shifting opinions, and the end of email.

President Obama said last week that “the American People need to have confidence” in the NSA’s surveillance programs. The administration has proposed several steps including a task force that will review surveillance technology and practices, and a website (which will launch later this week) that will detail just what the NSA does and does not collect. If you’re worried about government surveillance of your online activities, hard to tell if a website is the thing to make you feel better. But one thing’s for sure. Continuing revelations about government surveillance could start to change behavior. Some email providers have now shut down, saying email just isn’t a secure service, period.

Eva Galperin, at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, thinks that the latest information about the government looking through digital data will have a chilling effect on some communications, and that everyone should be concerned.

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