One thing I resent, is the way the media keeps lumping Snowden and Manning together. It's a totally absurd idea that they can compare the two, as well as grossly unfair to Snowden, to insinuate that he is anything like the highly confused Manning. Snowden is so together and on the level, that he is highly dangerous to Obama, hence Obama's refusal to even mention clemency. On the other hand, if everybody will recall, Manning wasn't able to define why he/she did what they did, and it wound up coming out sounding very personal in nature. But Snowden knew exactly why he did what he did, and only a very few people truly doubt his motives. That's my take anyway, but it seems very obvious. In my opinion it's high time the media acknowledges this difference. It might even sway Snowden's chances of clemency. Yeah, I feel pretty strong about this.

I'm not sure how effective any tools would be to guard against the surveillance. The way it has been limited to metadata on a legal basis is about as good as can be wished for, but as sneaky as that pathological liar we call Obama is, I'm sure he has people continuing on as if nothing has happened.