> Do I have to think about every possible way that people can perceive my actions, in order to make sure I stay the way I see myself - which is fundamentally on the basis that I am a good person?

This is the money quote for me. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get this through to people: No, I'm not a criminal now. I don't plan to become a criminal in the future. I control my own actions, but I don't control the how my actions are perceived by other people.

Should I be arrested because some combination of my purchases today and words written when I was 17 point to me committing a terrorist act? More to the point, should I have to worry about what someone is going to think if a computer flags my metadata as "worth investigation" and they start trawling through the entirety of my online life? What effect does that have on general conversation on the internet?

I think the thing I'm most afraid of is how do I explain this to my kids? In 10 years when they start forging their own life online, how do I sit down and explain that everything they do is monitored, and they need to be careful about everything they say and do on the internet? How do I explain that it didn't used to be like that, but we failed to stop it? It sounds melodramatic to type it out, but we've had an unprecedented amount of freedom to communicate with people around the world, and now that's being taken away.