Metadata means the NSA does not access content. Encrypting your communication does not affect PRISM, assuming we're getting accurate information. Encrypt it, or not. It doesn't matter. They're not looking at content. They are looking at medadata.
With metadata, the NSA can tell is who, when, how long, and where you were when you communicated with your friends, family, local businesses, school, work. With an overview of this information, an analyst can get a very clear idea of what groups exist, where they are, how tightly-knit they are, and who the major players are. If you want to disrupt a group, you'll have a really good idea of who you need to remove (arrest/detain/assassinate) in order to do that. The group itself may not even understand how important some of their members are until they turn up missing.
Okay, that is background information necessary to understand this debate. If you're still worried about whether the NSA is going to bust you for your pot brownies or your gay affair or your racist screeds on Stormfront, or your MP3 downloads: no. That is irrelevant. With respect and no condescension in my heart, please read the first two paragraphs again until you get it. This is important.
What you have to decide for yourself is whether you trust your government, not only now, but now *forever*, to use this information purely for your best interests. You may have trusted Bush's administration, and currently trust the Obama's administration, to use this information purely to keep you safe from the bad guys.
The danger, my fellow travellers, is what will happen when bad-actors gain power. In the sweep of history, even the most exceptional nations occasionally succumb to sociopathic dictators assuming control. That same infrastructure that kept us extra-safe from the bad guys, can now be used to track down political or racial enemies, which just might include you and your loved ones.
Plus! This metadata collection is against the mandate of the NSA, which is to collect information on foreign communications *only*. Not on US citizens. It is illegal, with *no* external oversight.
All this... this entire thread, is a distraction.
