<p>As a technologist, Ray Ozzie knows a little something about data security and is also known for thinking through and articulating the ramifications of technology and how we use it. Now, the former Microsoft chief software architect and developer of Lotus Notes has waded into the NSA surveillance controversy with a weekend post to Hacker News and with remarks at the Nantucket Conference.</p><p>His take? U.S. citizens are reaping what was sewn more than ten years ago when the U.S. Patriot Act passed nearly unanimously in the wake of 9/11. In that deal and subsequently, we've given up more of our rights to privacy in return for better security from terrorist threats.</p><p>I hope that people wake up, truly wake up, to what's happening to society, from both a big brother perspective and little brother perspective," Ozzie said according to a Boston.com report. From the passage of that law till now, we've seen an increasing ability of government agencies to gather data (or at least meta data) from cell phone records and social networks.</p><p>Before joining Microsoft, Ozzie shepherded the development of Lotus Notes collaboration and email software and had to navigate a tricky course between offering the most secure software possible with 64-bit encryption and laws that forbid the export of that technology outside the U.S. because it was too secure. A compromise was struck that allowed Lotus to offer a version of Notes that was more secure than other commercial offerings but met government export restrictions.</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/06/09/ray-ozzie-sounds-off-on-nsa-spygate/">Keep reading...</a></p>