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The Intercept reports that a new study from Oxford’s Jon Penney shows evidence that the mere existence of a surveillance state breeds fear and conformity, stifling free expression. The study found 87 percent of Americans were aware of Edward Snowden's 2013 leaked documents about how the government spies on Americans. Since then, there has been, “a 20 percent decline in page views on Wikipedia articles related to terrorism, including those that mentioned ‘al Qaeda,’ ‘car bomb’ or ‘Taliban,'" according to the report. “If people are spooked or deterred from learning about important policy matters like terrorism and national security, this is a real threat to proper democratic debate,” Penney wrote.