Any time I read this type of article, I keep recalling what irritated the hell out of me with the Snowden leaks and responses of US citizens. To paraphrase: "It's terrible they're spying on US citizens (but everyone else is fair game, geez, whack a splicer in that fibre channel asap)".
The US has reinvented the concept of borderlines on the Internet with what the NSA/TLAs have been up to. I'd say that's a distinct step backwards.