There is a difference. Criminals will steal anything which isn't bolted down and try to get some kind of financial gain. The government, for the most part really doesn't care about 99.9% of Americans data. We aren't that interesting or important!
Yea, I know you all thought you were so important nation states around the world were after you. Well, they are not. You need to get over yourself. Seriously. Set the conspiracy theories aside and just apply logic.
Out of all the threats in the world, those who would harm the people, government, national stability, armed forces, and critical infrastructure of the United States, you think they would waste their time reading your phone bill, tracking your location, or listening to your voicemail? Even if they did have a copy, do you think someone, even some lowly intern would take 2 seconds out of their life to read it? No.
Government, including intelligence agencies, are made up of people too. In the U.S., those people are Americans. Big surprise! If you were in such a role and had the job (with deliverables, timelines, stress, kids, spouse, soccer games on the weekend, etc.) would you be looking at everyday peoples utility bills, blog posts, or video of them shopping at the mall? No.
If you were someone important, a threat to others, criminal, etc. they might. But not you. Not me. So go find some other conspiracy to talk about around the internet campfire.
The reality is that the NSA is actually is spying on the citizens.
That's all there is to it.
They could do something with the information they're recording and saving in servers, or they might not.
Either way, I plan to take steps to prevent them from spying on me. That sort of behavior is unethical, and I won't allow it, no matter if they're actually reading my conversations or not.
That is like saying because I walk through the park or shopping mall, I am spying on people. Nope. Just going about my business. There is a difference.
But you could be. Some crazy people really do walk through the mall with cameras hidden in their buttons, or use their phones.
How do you know the government isn't doing the same? They've been caught many times before. Look at cell site simulators (IMSI Catchers, which I did an article about), in the UK and US they're used without a warrant, usually without any reason to suspect something.
They're watching you, it doesn't matter if you're not a terrorist. Did you not hear about them spying on Yahoo webcams? They found that a stupidly high percentage of the cams were all sex, and ended up having to write software to warn their monitoring people of suspected nudity, and yet they still continued to sift through endless dicks for a long time (and probably still do), and probably found absolutely nothing worthwhile, other than lots and lots of nude men. (if that isn't invasion of privacy, what is?)
Pretty paranoid. Is that really a concern? Just because something is possible or some minute percentage is doing it, does not mean it should really concern you. There is a chance you will get struck by lightning or get zapped from errant telecom microwave transmissions, but it does not mean we should all be wearing tinfoil hats. Again, lets separate 'what could be' from real concerns of risk.
If you really believed the random pervs at the mall may have button cameras or are recording on their cell phones, do you avoid all public places? Probably not. Which means your assessment of the risk (risk of impact) is not sufficient to change your behaviors.
And lets take the Stingray equipment, not that I agree with the practice, but does it really matter to you and I? Those things are crazy expensive, so they don't deploy them all that often. And if you were the police, with limited resources, would you use them on active investigations of criminals or just set one up to browse who people are calling? (doesn't listen to the conversation) Really? Out of all the risks in my day, getting in my car is probably the highest, this does not even rank. I doubt they care anymore than tracking what color shoes I wear.
I am not saying privacy is not being abused, but again we must define like anything else, what is an acceptable risk. Just like getting into my car, drinking scotch, smoking a cigar. Huge risk of getting killed, in comparison to other activities, but I do it anyways knowing and accepting the risk. Same situation here. Screaming that malls and public places are ripe with privacy violations is just as crazy as saying some spy agency is interested in knowing the type of underwear you buy. They could find out if they wanted, but the simple fact is THEY DON'T CARE!