Interesting, thanks for this context! Then if I understand correctly FBI spied on a USA citizen but in an international matter. So it's not really relevant that one party was a USA citizen: what is relevant is that since the other party wasn't, so it wasn't FBI's job. Did it get it right?
Of course they do. It just baffles me how it's always a sudden outrage when they happen to do to "us" what they normally openly do to "them" which is considered totally fine. Not really specific to FBI and USA, except they are the biggest in this game, as you've mentioned, so we hear mostly about them, and maybe China or Russia.
Yes and no. They can freely enforce a specific DNS server and reject any browser with a custom one as "tampered with". Just like they can freely enforce any part of your system being like they want it to be "or else".
If the recent rexxit is any indicator, most people will just yield and do as the corpo says. They don't care, they just want to keep using whatever they are used to. We have a self-selection bias problem in here in this regard.
Even better: make it a toggle. I prefer the current view, as I can easily glance at another application. I remember how on ICS I thought that if they are going to cut off most of the screen, why even bother with a preview at all? The icon would do just as well.
That's exactly my point: let's invert the scenario as there is no reason why we should be the ones compromising. The only objective difference is the privacy of the chosen application. Even if this would be equal too, we have just a much right to demand a specific protocol as they do.
So you're just using the root account 24/7?