This week we've learned of yet another outrage perpetuated by the NSA. Given the history and probable course of the Snowden leaks, I am confident the previous sentence will continue to be true for quite a while into the future. Every time the outrage begins to die down a bit, we learn there's even more going on. Each revelation is worse than the prior.

Yet at the same time all eyes are on the NSA, we're ignoring something very important. The NSA is a relatively small organization. They could not and did not do what they have done without help from the private sector. Construction of the surveillance state only happened because the NSA could draw upon the talents, effort, support, and most importantly: silence, of tens of thousands of programmers and engineers.

Some of those people worked for the usual suspects: defense contractors and the companies which service them. Many of these people, however, worked for the companies we don't normally associate with the war machine: Google, Microsoft, HP, Intel, Apple, and others. The monstrosity the NSA commands could not exist without a silent army of people scattered throughout the tech industry who were all willing to turn a blind eye.

Why did they all participate? The exact reasons are surely as numerous as there are people involved, yet we could probably pick out a few common threads: misplaced patriotism (We need this to protect ourselves from the terrorists) , fear (I've got a mortgage and a family. I can't afford to risk my income by speaking up), incrementalism (It's not worth rocking the boat over just this one little thing), apathy (That's just the way the world works and there's nothing I can do about it).

In addition to all of the above there are also those people who just don't give a shit. Nihilists, opportunists, and sociopaths for whom values and principles are empty words that don't mean anything. If you are one of those people, my words are not for you.

For everyone else, I invite you to participate in a thought experiment. Pretend it's one year from today and 2014 is drawing to a close. You are enjoying a quiet moment when suddenly a glowing portal opens up in front of you and the version of yourself who will exist 10, 20, or 30 years from now walks out of it. Your future self has come back through time to talk to you about the year 2014 and the part you played in it.

Surely the whistleblowers who have already stepped forward at great personal cost to themselves would have no need to fear such a conversation. In fact, they would have every reason to look forward it. Nobody who can honestly say, "I did the right thing even when it was difficult" ever has to fear regret.

Those household names we've all heard of are not the only people taking action. I've met many people recently who have all decided to take their own personal, quiet stand. They are leaving comfortable and lucrative jobs with large companies in favor doing something else more in line with their values. They are closing profitable businesses and starting new ones because they are no longer willing to sell their talents to the surveillance and war machine. These people will also be listed among the heroes of the era when the history of this age is written.

But this thought experiment isn't about them - it's about you. If your future self reaches backwards through time and asks, "You had a chance to make a real difference in 2014. What did you do with that opportunity?" how will you respond?