His fear stems from the fact that most people believe they have a right to the Internet and are essentially anonymous.
To respond to your hellfire missile analogy, if I am in Canada or the US, I'm not worrying about it but if I'm in the middle east, it's a different story.
And I am saying that he does not have to worry about NSA, Mossad or The Secret Army of Northern Virginia spending years to develop Flame 2.0 so they can read his email. On the flip side if you are a high level enemy of the state you should still be worried if you are in Topeka or Ottawa; if its not a hellfire coming in the window it will be equally lethal scary rough men dressed in black.
To respond to your hellfire missile analogy, if I am in Canada or the US, I'm not worrying about it but if I'm in the middle east, it's a different story.