Information and data has always been public. The mails have always been subject to search and seizure. Telephone operators used to be on the line at the same time as the parties conversing were. Data sent over the internet is, as far as I'm concerned ,public data and not subject to privacy laws.

Here's the NSA take:

"The enemy of the new century holds a dramatic advantage over enemies of the past-access to a global industry moving at the speed of light. A three trillion dollar a year telecommunications industry has leveled the battlefield.

Adversaries like Bin Laden can take full advantage of this technology - cell phones, fax machines, the Internet, emails, and encryption. This global information explosion forced NSA to recognize it no longer had the technological advantage. The Agency had to prepare.

NSA is increasing its partnerships with industry and academia... expanding its research and development, and aggressively recruiting and hiring cryptologic professionals.

These changes are revolutionizing the Agency's capability to produce foreign signals intelligence and protect sensitive government communications in a digital age. These changes give warfighters and policymakers real-time insight into the adversary's mindset. These changes ensure that NSA's capabilities will continue to prevent conflict, shorten wars, and save lives."

Is NSA the good guy? Sure. Could they be bad? Sure. "Enemy of the State" type scenarios play out in real life too, even if they may not be as dramatic or interesting.

I'm not staying awake worrying about these things.

Besides, usually, the really good technology is found in private $ector funded projects and a parallel, but inferior, idea is usually financed by the NSA. Then when they see the better version, they knock it off or appropriate it for their use with a few minor modifications so that it qualifies for a unique patent. This approach was used successfully by G.E. who hired Steinmetz solely for finding ways around Nikola Tesla's Alternating Current patents. (Thereby saving them making royalty payments)

The game of cat and mouse continues and technological superiority is fleeting.