Twitter's Jaded Reaction to The NSA's Phone Records Collection Program
A huge Guardian scoop this evening revealed confirmation of an indiscriminate phone records collection program, encompassing the calls of every Verizon customer on a daily basis - that's millions of Americans' phone data. And unsurprisingly, Twitter blew up with commentary just after the story broke. But not with outrage, with a jaded reaction that indicates the scoop basically confirms what a lot of people have suspected anyway.
I'm kind of shocked at this point to find people are surprised by the NSA/Verizon story.
— Quinn Norton (@quinnnorton) June 6, 2013
@monaeltahawy This has been going on since "Patriot Act" and most Americans are oblivious & frankly some are ok w/it. This is what fear does
— Julian Gallo (@JulianGallo66) June 5, 2013
Also disappointing as a customer to learn @vzwnews is complying with that NSA order (but not remotely surprising).
— Mike Madden (@mikemadden) June 6, 2013
People. What do you think the NSA does? This is what it does. You can not like it but you shouldn't be surprised.
— Patrick Iber (@PatrickIber) June 6, 2013
@morningmoneyben shocking? Not at all.Not sure why anyone is surprised NSA does this.
— Ben Hargrove (@BenHargroveNY) June 6, 2013
Oh look, NSA totally abused its power and VZ totally cooperated. Sooo did not see that coming. guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun…
— haroldfeld (@haroldfeld) June 6, 2013
While others took the opportunity to note that their phone conversations (the content of which, to be clear, aren't being collected under the order, just the calls' metadata) are pretty boring, anyway:
Conversations with my wife about our cats. Go for it, NSA. theatln.tc/ZQ5xfH
— Steve King(@steveking_) June 6, 2013
I certainly hope the NSA enjoyed listening to me talking my mom through the process of minimizing a window.
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) June 6, 2013
This response is kind of becoming a meme under the #CallstheNSAKnowsAbout hashtag:
I ordered Thai food last week. They put me on hold for a while. #CallsTheNSAKnowsAbout
— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) June 6, 2013
I accidentally said "love you" at the end of a long Time Warner Cable service call. #CallsTheNSAKnowsAbout
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) June 6, 2013
I'm not really concerned about #CallsTheNSAKnowsAbout . I'm used to making calls in Egypt; I *expect* my phone is tapped whenever I use it.
— H.A. Hellyer (@hahellyer) June 6, 2013
Of course, there were plenty of strong reactions to the story:
This NSA surveillance story is just about the most mind boggling thing I’ve ever read.
— Greg Lipper (@theglipper) June 6, 2013
There are few things more sensitive and classified than a FISA warrant. This one is astounding
— Adam Goldman (@adamgoldmanap) June 6, 2013
Wow! @ggreenwald reports Nat'l Security Agency collects phone records of millions of people daily gu.com/p/3gc62/tw
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) June 6, 2013
For more on the story, head to our write-up, or the Guardian's original piece.
