Glenn Greenwald's 2014 book No Place to Hide notes that the Internet counters American power, which is why the US government desperately tries to control it.
A key motivation of the US government's attempts to control the Internet by collecting everyone's data is a fear that the Internet can become a threat to American power. From Greenwald's book:
The Internet has long been heralded as an unprecedented instrument of democratization and liberalization, even emancipation. But in the eyes of the US government, this global network and other types of communications technology threaten to undermine American power. Viewed from this perspective, the NSA’s ambition to “collect it all” at last becomes coherent. It is vital that the NSA monitor all parts of the Internet and any other means of communication, so that none can escape US government control.The L'Ordre blog at Beliefnet concurred with Greenwald's analysis, stating that "As I have always argued, the US government is intent on stifling innovation and stifling freedom, subverting and sabotaging the technologies that could have offered these gifts to mankind."
#IfThePatriotActExpires, the evil machine of tyrants and eavesdroppers will be terminated! http://t.co/mEyr8bXfIX pic.twitter.com/WzNkEb6dxP— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) May 30, 2015
