It seems that almost daily, some elite is outed for snooping. The U.S. National Security Agency monitored traffic patterns from American telephones. The Prism program accessed troves of customer data from Internet firms like Microsoft and Apple. British intelligence used public Web sites to spy on diplomats. The U.S. Postal Service has been logging our physical mail. The F.B.I. admits using drones to tail suspects within the United States. News media are outraged by governmental leak investigations, while celebrities and politicians denounce spy outrages by news organizations. Corporations swap our information for profit, without consultation or constraint.

Much of today’s hand-wringing focuses rightfully on potential abuse of power. Both ends of the hoary political spectrum disagree over whether to most fear government or a rising corporate oligarchy, but all paladins of liberty share one dread: that despots will be tech-empowered by universal surveillance.

And what did you expect?

Ever since the discovery of printing and glass lenses, each generation (in the West) acquired new prosthetics to expand human vision, memory and reach. Waves of innovation — from print journalism and libraries to radio, television and the Internet — promised liberation or oppression. Citizens and societies were disrupted, cajoled and misled — and adapted.

So, is there a bigger perspective to this latest phase? Look again at Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden or the Swiss bank employees who recently exposed their secretive masters to cleansing light.