The problem is blackmail. That is what Edward Snowden meant when he talked about changing people’s fates. When all associations are known to authorities, the very act of communicating with someone becomes dangerous. If they are found to be displeasing to the secretive masters of society, then how long before your very real, recorded linkage to them becomes problematic as well? Guilt by association and character assassinations do not require you to be “doing anything wrong,” only to be perceived that way as a result of smears. Sensitive data aboutWill NSA Metadata Be Used to Blackmail You? personal habits can destroy a political campaign before it ever begins. The manipulation of the public takes many forms, which political activists and the professional political class understand well.