Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course laws will protect us. They are actually our only real hope. With the right laws, Snowden is a whistleblower with due protection. There is no debate as to whether he is a "traitor" or who broke the law, and the entire dynamic is changed here. Either we are a nation of laws or we are not. Laws are what constrain our government and what confer and protect all of our rights. Why should this be any different? Wh…
Better laws, and official respect for them, would be the better solution if we had that option. But how do we get there? Has such a scenario ever effectively protected citizens from government in the real world? And what are we supposed to do in the meantime? "We cannot even duly protect ourselves from zero-day exploits" - well that's definitional, isn't it? It's hardly a reason to give up on trying to protect commun…
Of course it has, unless you believe that all of our rights in the U.S. are a sham, and are routinely violated in private by our government. No, it's not perfect and it never will be as long as humans are involved. But, there have to be definitions of right and wrong with associated penalties--in other words, laws.
>well that's definitional, isn't it?
That's my point. These things still exist. The fact that we continue to battle one-off hackers, groups, etc. and frequently lose should give us pause to consider whether this is really the cat-and-mouse posture we want to assume with the U.S. government.
>It's hardly a reason to give up on trying to protect communications from "big brother".
I don't have anything against taking prudent measures to protect our privacy in general. But, this idea that technical solutions will ultimately protect us from "big brother" is pure folly. Without the law on our side, we will lose.