Some more points for why you should feel bad about this: - Proprietary information. Information such as source code, programs, media, etc... which is in some way valuable could be pilfered from your system(s). While you personally may not believe you have any, businesses do. Take Norton, for example. Last year they [url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010584/symantec-leaked-norton-utilities-2006-source-code-already-published-months-ago.html]had the source code to one of their products stolen and publicly released[/url]. That hurts them in more ways than one as well. - Corporate espionage. The NSA has been [url=http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/10/nsa-busted-conducting-industrial-espionage-in-france-mexico-brazil-and-other-countries.html]spying on private communications of foreign businesses[/url] that cannot be justified as part of national security. How do we know the information the NSA stole hasn't been traded or sold to other, rival businesses? Are we supposed to just trust that they didn't and at this point? -blam!- no. - Anonymity. If you're on the Internet and deliberately using non-identifying information (which encompasses a huge area), you clearly do value your privacy. - Blackmail. If some entity has a huge amount of information about you, what's stopping them from using it against you to bend you to their will? If you mention that "the government" is the only entity who has access to it, what's stopping an evil-Snowden from popping up and doing what I've just mentioned? - International relations. The US has been breaking into every--blam!-ing-thing on the planet and injecting malware into systems everywhere. They've been spying on and monitoring the phones of multiple leaders of countries, and stolen data from a university in China. That's a state-sanctioned attack on another country. The latest news that they've injected extremely low-level malware into devices like hard disks has also brought a consensus that such actions have damaged the US' technology sector. Multiple businesses from what I've read are also refusing to set up shop or store data in the US because of it, instead opting to use data warehouses overseas. Land of opportunity? Not any more. Edit: I open up the news and what do I see? [url=http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/it-firms-lose-billions-after-nsa-scandal-exposed-by-whistleblower-edward-snowden-9028599.html]IT firms lose billions after NSA scandal exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden[/url]. - Legal protections and trust. Established legal protections (laws) that protect an individual or business' systems should be respected by government agencies too, as well as the trust that the international community would expect from the US. How hypocritical does it look when you sign up for treaties and join the United Nations then go and do shit like this [i]and[/i] to the extent the NSA (and other countries' "national security" agencies) has done it.