The amazing bit is that Assange and Snowden were and are crucified for bringing this to the Americans citizens attention.
The American population jumped on shooting the messenger and the publisher.
Snowden should get a medal and Assange treated like royalty in a country that pretends to love Freedom.
I argued long and hard back in the day that Assange and Snowden were heroes and either journalists (Assange) or legitimate whistleblowers (Snowden) and I got screamed at (before TOS changes) that they're spies and criminals and that I was somehow unAmerican for dissenting. The propaganda narrative had sunk all the way in to the brainstem and even defining what journalism is was ineffective as rebuttal.
Years later, even the NYT, important rag that it is, has come around to realizing that if the US government is allowed to jail Assange then the First Amendment, nevermind the rest of the Constitution, is a dead letter.
America is a Fascist State. The more people recognize this basic fact, the more power We the People will have to do something about it.