"I haven't done anything wrong, why should I worry?" a counterpoint

[tech3149]

We've all heard that argument before from people who assume that the intention of someone in the government is only to do there job. We all know from historic record that there are many, in or out of government, who will use there position to profit or improve their influence. I expect it's always been that way but hope it isn't always the same.

For those people who are so fearful of protecting their own self-interest without regard of the consequences, try presenting this scenario.
You run or own a company that makes a few billion a year and you're doing VERY well. Your the leading company in your field . You've got a line on a deal that could change that to doing VERY, VERY well. Your communications to others pin down the details that can make this thing work and confirm that you haven't missed anything. All your communication is over encrypted connections that nobody could crack without massive resources. A week later your biggest competitor blows your plan. There's no way they could have come up with the same plan unless they read your mind or listened to all your communications. After the company goes belly-up, you find out the BIL of your competitor had a friend that worked in SIGINT at the NSA. So how do you feel now? You didn't check on all the employees and friends and family of your competitor or where they worked. Then again, they could have hired a private investigator that could do the job. What could they do to protect themselves? After all, they didn't do anything wrong, they just didn't CYA.

That might not really be the case. If they had considered the possibility of government legislation that protected private communication without "just cause" of suspicious and possibly legal activity, they might not have to put the resources into a CYA mentality. Oh, I forgot, the FISA legislation would cover that if it was enforced. Then again, do we know that it was ever really enforced?