> Snowden's revelations didn't have much effect outside of tech circles
This is not true. There were lasting changes in public perceptions around the surveillance of Americans [1]. And bulk collection under the Patriot Act was repealed [2]. That is far from complete, but it's also far from nothing.
The reforms to bulk data collection were immediately after the revelations.
Congress has been continuing/expanding surveillance in the years since. But, perhaps not to the degree they would have without Snowden's revelations? I want to believe that Snowden's great sacrifice made lasting changes, but I don't think the evidence supports it.
E.g.,
> Congress extends patriot act section 702 spying powers (2018)
> With practically no public notice and no public hearings, the House of Representatives passed the College Transparency Act (CTA) on Feb. 4, 2022, by slipping it into a much larger unrelated bill called the America Competes Act, intended to better position the United States to compete with China. (2022)
> creation of a comprehensive data system that would include the personal information of every student enrolled in college or another higher education institution, and track them after their [sic] graduate.
> Congress retroactively legalized some of the spying
Extensions of §§ 702 and 215 didn't roll back the reforms in the USA Freedom Act [1], which was a hodgepodge of intelligence reauthorizations and admittedly minor reforms. (But reforms nonetheless.)
> House of Representatives passed the College Transparency Act (CTA) on Feb. 4, 2022, by slipping it into a much larger unrelated bill called the America Competes Act
Anyone claiming CTA was slipped into the ACA wasn't watching the ball. I first heard about it around 2021 [2], which was itself a re-introduction of an earlier bill. It went through discussions across two administrations. The only opposition was from higher ed, who didn't want the record keeping burden.
This is not true. There were lasting changes in public perceptions around the surveillance of Americans [1]. And bulk collection under the Patriot Act was repealed [2]. That is far from complete, but it's also far from nothing.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/04/how-america...
[2] https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-prais...