Let's make something clear first: we are not "the" Apple community. We are "a" community of mostly Apple users. Just a bunch of mostly-great folks.
Your question is much more complex than you probably realised in posting it, and there's not a simple answer to it, as we have to address the balance of security and liberty and these are topics near and dear to Americans' hearts (but not always consistently applied ... lots of cognitive dissonance on these topics to put it mildly).
My general feeling is that most people are uncomfortable with the level of surveillance revealed in the reports, but understand that some level of this sort of stuff is needed to prevent attacks and threats from being carried out. The question is in the amount, the balance, the protection of civil liberties and the safeguards from abuse. Alas, as both the program itself and the authorities overseeing it are secret, there's no way for citizens to even *influence* these factors, which is where a lot of the discomfort comes from. In short it's not a black/white sort of issue.
I do find, as a former US resident who now lives outside the US, that there's a bit of a disconnect with America pushing American-style democracy all over the world while simultaneously undermining the concept with more secrecy and less accountability. These things seem to me to be contrary to the country's founding values.
I would bet that if (not every technique, but generally) the PRISM program had been offered and explained up front, with an honest discussion of the pros and cons, and even put up for a vote, the US public would have approved most of it. The need for the secret courts and secret body of law, in particular, seems fundamentally un-American to me -- particularly now.
I accept that I don't know all the facts on this matter but here's the rub: I can't know all the facts apparently. Given what America means to me (and I think most people), this is a troubling situation.
