Thanks to RogerG for posting the NPR article Our Surveillance Society: What Orwell And Kafka Might Say on his Facebook page.

And, even in the tradition of prophetic literature that warns of the dangers of bureaucratic power run amok, there is an awareness that the protection of the state, while intrusive, is necessary.

This gives me an opportunity to comment on this latest brouhaha.

I just do not understand what the hoopla about PRISM is all about.  Suddenly the people have been awakened to the technology that is there for the big guys to use.  The fact that Google, Amazon, Facebook, Verizon, AT&T, Walmart, etc, have all this data and use it to their advantage every day is what we should be addressing.  They use it to concentrate market power in the hands of fewer and fewer organizations to the disadvantage of those that do not have the information.  Collection of this data is not something we can stop.  So we need to carefully consider how it ought to be regulated.

Do not let big media and big politics divert your attention from the real issue.  We have to wonder whose advantage is being served by bringing this issue to light in just this way at just this time.

This NPR article serves the public interest better by bringing up the all the real issues for calmer consideration.