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Too many make conclusions before defining what is actually being collected. We have long known that metadata was being collected. After all, phone companies already have those records. The difference is that NSA can hold those same records BUT not view them without a 'secret' court order.
The problem is that NSA does not need those records. Phone companies have them. Violations of court orders can easily occur when those records are freely available without going to another party. Who is holding the data is the problem.
Meanwhile, we have long suspected that all conversations that go international are also stored. That is properly also legal. But again, the conversations cannot be 'listened to' without a court order.
That's why this has all changed. The laws never considered stored conversation. The public also does not understand the difference between actual data and metadata. Some local gossip reporters clearly have no grasp of that important concept. Creating fears that are unjustified. And lack of any serious call to actually define the problem
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