But NSA - I really hope - doesn't sell your data for profit to insurance and medical companies, so there's a difference. If NSA picks up something serious about you, you're in deep trouble, but the current data sniffer companies can make your life really hard without you even realizing it.
I'm not advocating plaintext email. I'm advocating for no email. But since it'll be 10-15 years before email takes its place alongside ICQ among protocols normal people never use, in the meantime, the right solution is to keep email banal, and keep sensitive stuff on secure messaging protocols.
But NSA - I really hope - doesn't sell your data for profit to insurance and medical companies, so there's a difference. If NSA picks up something serious about you, you're in deep trouble, but the current data sniffer companies can make your life really hard without you even realizing it.