The failure to adequately describe the security landscape to those outside the technology sector is the greatest failure of technologists in the last 5-10 years. The NSA revelations were lost on america as a whole. They were muddied by confusing technologies and what many considered to be treasonous means.
In this regard, snowden was the whistleblower technologists needed, not the one america needed. The person or company to bear that standard has yet to be identified.
I would say our job as technologists is two-fold: first, we must continue to press our organizations for privacy and the security of our users. The e2e encryption focus is a great example of this.
Just as important is our ability to communicate security problems in a manner accessible to the common voter. Without their understanding, and passionate support, privacy in the tech sector will be relegated to the "anarchists" and criminals. Tor suffers this treatment and e2e encryption is already being painted in a similar light. It is essential that pieces like this continue to be written.
Collectively, we need to learn to distill this complex issue into language everyone empathizes with as much as technologists do.