Looks like Gellman has thrown in his lot with Greensnow, but I’d like for him or them to point out where any ordinary person has been harmed by the collection of metadata? Do they have any evidence it does harm of any sort to the random person? More people have been harmed by these kinds of hackers through commercial sites than ever by the NSA, I would venture to guess. Where is their protection?

This is the sort of hysteria that starts when someone has their hands and eyes where they don’t belong, people who steal information based on their own judgment, and who think they know much more than those who have studied and worked on a system that is governed by laws and oversight, like a govt agency.

Here’s @BartonGellman on how Obama’s speech ignored many of the key NSA questions, while endorsing bulk spying http://t.co/RaTAc2FVVa

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 18, 2014