Say you uncovered something that put the government in a bad light. Doesn't matter what the situation you found yourself in to get this information, you just have it. If you wanted to anonymously tip-off that they were doing [insert very bad thing here], it's no longer possible if everything you do is being monitored. You get arrested before you can publish the information, it is destroyed and you are in prison, and the general population remain ignorant of the information. Or say you were a political opponent. If the opposing party in power could access your private information and know literally everything about you, what would stop them from using anything against you as blackmail, pull you out of the campaign, etc, etc. I know these are "large scale" examples, but these could be applied to anyone. If someone in the government didn't like you for whatever reason or you were becoming a nuisance over some policy (human rights, foreign policy,etc) what's stopping them from using your own information against you to suppress you? [spoiler]And this is ignoring the fact they've been spying on "Allies" for no given reason. There is no way you can trust a country if they trust no-one else.[/spoiler]