The NSA is above the law and the rules they follow are set by a secret court appointed by a single man who has his position for life.
At the next Boston bombing, or whatever, they analyse that metadata for the perpetrator. And the next one. And the next one. And build a profile of what a "terrorist's" communication patterns look like.
And then they single out everyone matching that profile and stick watches on them, or bring them in.
It's Minority Report without the psychics. Google Now for Homeland Security.
Eagle Eye (yet) without an AI.
Wow, that never occurred to me. Analyzing Metadata really is a lot like "pre-crime".
Sure, in a sense all police or intelligence work can be looked at in a way that makes it seem "like pre-crime" - after all, crime prevention does have its merits. But putting every single citizen on the list is something different entirely and really does smack of "psychics".
I thought that's why everybody's freaking out. I mean... that's why I'm freaking out. I haven't even seen the movie.
Threads like this are silly because actual suspects already know this, and average joe is getting a false sense of security.