By now, you've probably heard the news that the USA's National Security Administration is, with help from various telecom and Web service companies, spying on just about everyone. It's likely that Canada and many other countries are doing the same.

The mass media coverage of this story has, sadly, been rather short on detail regarding exactly what data these agencies collect and store, how they analyze it, and what they know about you and your friends as a result. This has led to the startling result that roughly half of Americans think that this surveillance, despite being explicitly forbidden by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, is both legal and OK.

For democracy to work, the voting public needs to know what is going on and why. So, in that spirit, here's a list of articles that are very much worth your while to read, ponder and discuss.