> all these revelations have done is increase paranoia and misunderstanding
It was a leak of truthful information. Almost by definition it reduced misunderstanding. I'd also argue that it didn't increase paranoia; it massively reduced the number of people who were classified as paranoid by confirming some of their darkest fears.
> Almost by definition it reduced misunderstanding
I disagree with the idea that adding more truthful information will necessarily reduce misunderstanding. It is very possible to say something which, while containing no falsehoods, does not tell the whole story and thereby increases misunderstanding. Note that, for instance, the oath sworn in an American courtroom is not only to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, but deliberately includes the phrase the whole truth
Snowden told as much as he possibly could. He was in a privileged position, but hardly the highest-cleared position in the agency. Your concerns would be more aptly applied to clapper or other higher-up clowns that have destroyed our freedom.
> For the average person, your data is being collected along with everyone else's, but of course you're not being spied on, as there is no human personally looking at your data - it would be a waste of resources.
Ah, we have different definitions of spied upon. The existence of stored information concerning my activities that I previous thought to be unstored constitutes spying by my definition.
Aka the Stasi approach, with most of the employees laid off through superior modern automation.
It was a leak of truthful information. Almost by definition it reduced misunderstanding. I'd also argue that it didn't increase paranoia; it massively reduced the number of people who were classified as paranoid by confirming some of their darkest fears.