Anyone who is actually surprised by this needs a slap in the face and told to wake up to reality.
I read somewhere that: "We are under attack by an 8th century ideology with 21st century technology." We, especially Americans, have a zero tolerance of these types of attacks. We, well... mostly the media, chastise the government if something like this actually happens. No one seems to remember (probably because the media didn't do diddle squat to report it) the prevented NYC Time Square bombing plot that was thwarted using this system. I've known since 2009 that a lot, if not all, of Americans were being watched. The thing is, I really don't think the NSA is sharing all this information with other agencies or else you'd see a lot more people getting arrested for internet crimes that don't relate to national security.
Is it Orwellian? Yep. Is there a government lady on the TV screen telling me to do my jumping jacks properly? No. I know most people here would say that this is wrong and spying on every single person in the USA is deplorable. Hell, I agree with them.. but what other options do you have to monitor potential threats?
