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In reply to the discussion: Former Top NSA Official: “We Are Now In A Police State” [View all]Snarkoleptic
(6,003 posts)My second career finds me selling fabricated stone surfacing- granite, quartz, marble, etc.
In a moment of snark, I updated my FB status to say I was a "street level rock dealer". I mean what the heck, my friends have a sense of humor...right?
A couple of weeks later, I awoke and noticed that my garbage bags had disappeared form the curb overnight. I searched the internet for (something like) "Why would someone take my garbage bags from the curb?" and was only half surprised to see that the authorities troll Facebook looking for infractions of the law. One of the search results referred to Facebook as "Law enforcement's favorite new toy" (to uncover criminal behavior).
I believe my little joke was scooped up in some NSA keyword search that was then referred to the local authorities. The whole episode made real for me, what was previously an abstaction. This episode has made me feel like an idiot for reading about all of the NSA stuff and then allowing myself the luxury of fun within the reality of spying. This seemingly harmless joke has led me to feelings of anger, paranoia, shame, fear and mistrust as well as to question whether our government has nothing better thing to do.