Unless they realize it themselves they are lost anyway.
Heard there are shows that explain the news to people.. thats just beoynd help...

Well, I guess I'm gonna be the first to agree with the OP. I may not be educated enough on this topic, but I as I see things now, I would honestly not mind complete invasion of my privacy if that meant catching serial killers, rapists, finding missing people etc. I don't know what they can do with the information they have on me, but if I have to sacrifice my privacy for the lives of others, so be it.

Can someone who is more educated on this matter explain in a few words (and with no insults, please), why they are against it? I'm keeping an open mind here.

The possibilities for misuse are vast. As long as the government is somewhat good, there's no real harm done for the most part. But if the government went really wrong, like dictatorship-wrong, you'd suddenly find terrorists in all opposition. I wouldn't be surprised if political enemies would also be found to be 'guilty' of all kinds of nasty things, thanks to these surveillance programs. Even in current situation, there's much room for misuse. Your political opponent has done something nasty in the past and you heard him talk about it? Well there goes his career. The problem is, it makes the position of those in power even stronger, in any situation. And when no one's overseeing these surveillance programs properly, it's an even greater risk.

If it was possible to install a camera in everyone's home, in every room, so that it would alert the authorities if anything suspicious was going on, would you approve of it? After all, you have nothing to hide, right?

The problem is.. what happens when someone in the 'government' or something with authority just.. dosn't like you for who you are.

they can then use their power for their own agenda and fuck you over. no strings attatched. and yes, that happens on a daily basis everywhere. How do they sell you on the idea? make you scared enough to think 'yeah.. its not good but it is better than beeing scared all the time'

and that is how you control people.. by fear atleast..

Yeah imagine invasion of privacy in a situation like we had in Argentina years before with the Military Dictators taking the power. People couldn't do many things and had to agree with everything that the goverment said. During that time many people lost their lifes because the Military grabbed anyone that seemed suscpicious and made them "dissapear". It was horrible and back then they weren't spying on every house... Imagine that with this program. It would be a disaster. Anything you said that was wrong for them and you could have people making you "dissapear" for a message you sent a friend.

Ok ill give it a try. When you have a problem you have two ways to resolve it: 1) To find the source of the problem and change it  2) To Directly try to eliminate the problem. The example the OP gives is one that can be resolved by using the first, cause if you use the second you invade my privacy. What i am trying to say is that private messages are not the problem, the real problem is why anyone wanted to cause these riots and then you take that answer and you have your real problem, now you just need a solution.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-riots-why-did-the-riots-happen-who-147237

if for example these were the reason behind the riots, the problem is right under our nose; poverty, capitalism, Imperialism, abuse of power, oppression and bad education or no education at all. By monitoring all messages and conversations you only invade the privacy of innocent people, cause if we start monitoring everithing, all these oppressed people will stop using this methods and find different ones to conspire against the governments. 

Edit: sorry if my english is bad...

I can answer easily why I am against it.

I don't want to live my life with someone hovering over my shoulder and watching everything I do. I don't want to always feel the need to be careful of everything I do and/or say, regardless of where I am all because I a can and will be monitored at all times.

What kind of freedom is that? Why are people so easily willing to give up their 4th amendment rights? You don't need to tap into my stuff to catch a rapist. 

Yeah, I might have nothing to hide, but it doesn't mean I leave my front door wide open for anyone to just waltz on in.

False sense of security? We have in the last decade lost more rights than we've gained securities. This is a very dangerous road we are allowing ourselves to go down.

This all just makes me wonder.

If people are so willing to allow their calls, texts, etc... be checked without the need of warrants then how long before people start being okay with cops being able to just check homes?

All in the name of catching the bad guys right?

Thanks for the replies. I do agree with everyone that we do need to fight for our privacy and make sure that they stop spying on us, though not because of privacy issues, but because they WILL abuse their power, if we allow them to.
So in a sense, I both agree and disagree with most people here.

I honestly wouldn't mind having cameras in every single room of my house and them spying on me 24/7 even when I masturbate or have sex, simply because they could also see acts of domestic violence, people cheating on their partner (in case of a divorce), crimes committed etc. However, I am aware that this will never work, especially since the police in most places are very corrupted and as others said, they could make a case against you, simply because they don't like you or your opinions.

In other words, everyone should be against this, though we sort of disagree on why.

(side note: I am a very private person and have the curtains down when I'm at home, so I'm not that comfortable with invasion of my privacy, but in an ideal situation, I'd rather have them listening to my every conversation if that could lead to citizens feeling secure and protected from crime. Of course, things are not that simple and that will never happen).

Last thing: anyone here a fan of Person of Interest?

like i said before the problem are not the threats, the problem is why this threats live, what is the reason behind them?. There should be no excuse to accept a violation of your privacy, except to those who are uneducated or paranoid.