Do you really think the NSA has the manpower to sift through billions of keystrokes and metadata

[NoOneMan]

65. From what I know about what Google can do, it makes me very uncomfortable with the NSA

Google uses "metadata" to build a virtual reflection of who you are. Its a unique fingerprint that has proven value (in the billions) in its ability to crack your personality in order to sell things to you. These unique profiles of who we are, floating in their databases, is an electronic expression of our habits, desires, wishes, interests, etc.

It isn't simply "metadata", any more than a synapse firing in our brain is just an electronic signal. The forest that contains the trees is being encapsulated and they are capturing the essence of who we are. This is more revealing than a urine sample, a fingerprint, DNA, and other forms of collection we deem to invade our privacy. They are watching our electronic shadows as we tread across this new virtual world of the internet.

Google is of course just trying to sell us stuff (maybe). But what is the NSA doing with our unique metadata reflections--our electronic shadows? What could they do? What will they do? Even if today they have the best intentions, our shadow will exist tomorrow when those intentions change. Why on earth would we want something to contain a unique reflection of who we are forever, when we don't know what they really are doing with it and we can never know?

Its difficult not to be hyperbolic about this. The very concerning issue is that if the least of our fears is realized, this system is a doorway to absolute tyranny because anyone can be silenced (by targeting and eliminating or blackmailing us into silence). They already know who the problems will be, in case there comes a time when we NEED problem individuals to fix the broken system.