I have a problem with your approach preferring 'relatively low' numbers of people subjected to blanket surveillance, as opposed to the necessary number.
The reference to numbers was simply to point out the fallacy in what Snowden wants people to believe - that he could spy on anyone at anytime without control. He even suggested that he could spy on the President.
The number of people who
can be spied on and the number of people who
are spied on are not related. It is entirely possible that the system is collecting enough data that anyone CAN be spied on.
Regardless, the law is not a numbers game. If the government is engaging in criminal activity, it scarcely matters if there are 300 victims or 3,000 or 3,000,000. Illegal activity is illegal activity.
If I embezzle money, I hardly expect to be able to tell the judge "Well, the company I stole from only has 4 employees. That's not very bad; it's not like I stole from a company with 300,000 employees!"
