The NSA's business is 'information dominance,' the use of other people's secrets to shape events.

Some misunderstandings are hard to cure.

Daniel Ellsberg showed tremendous courage back in the 70s.

Privacy is relational. It depends on the audience. You don't want your employer to know you're job hunting. You don't spill all about your love life to your mom or your kids. You don't tell trade secrets to your rivals.

When the New York Times revealed the warrantless surveillance of voice calls, in December 2005, the telephone companies got nervous.

In Africa through the 1990s, with notable exceptions in Senegal and Uganda, nearly all the ruling powers denied they had a problem with AIDS.

Activists and geeks, standing together, are demonstrating powers beyond the reach of government control.