Big Brother with Big Data

In a development that threatens to haunt the Obama presidency and smother democracy itself, a new surveillance program employing “Big Data” has been exposed by a 29-year old whistleblower, Edward Snowden, hidden for now in Hong Kong. The New York Times has editorialized that President Barack Obama “has lost all credibility on this issue.” Obama himself says he “welcomes” a conversation on the crisis, as he previously has called on Congress to “rein in” his own administration, both signs that the tiger may be riding the president instead of the way he may have intended.