It's very valuable to see this reaction to the latest Snowden disclosures: I expect it will be common, and the tech community needs to be prepared to make it clear why this really does reflect another betrayal of trust.

Personally, I can't blame the NSA for trying to intercept and read lots of "suspicious" internet traffic: that's their job. Governments do this, and whether it's good or bad, it's expected. (I'm not happy about the degree to which the NSA seems to be stretching the rules against them acting domestically, nor am I happy about massive all-encompassing interceptions rather than targeted ones, but those are separate issues.)

So there really is a legitimate argument that these latest Snowden disclosures damage national security. The thing is, they also indicate that the NSA has been doing its expected work by actively weakening the protections that we (and large parts of the global economy) depend on. Their actions and strategies have also undermined global confidence in American technology companies. And those are factors that I think the average watcher (like the author of this article) may not recognize unless folks like us point it out.