It takes a major leap in testicular size from "help the NSA spy on people illegally" to "Hey! There is cash to be made here people!" They had a room in SanFran dedicated to the spying on us And the only people in jail for this shit is the whistle blower Full timeline of the bullshit ATT has pulled is here at least what has been leaked so far.
Don't get me wrong - it's a big bundle of bullshit. They had a torture flight primed for Snowden and the shit they're doing to Chelsea Manning is beyond the pale, but within the confines of "whistleblowing" things have been largely okay.In early June, shortly after the May 22, 2011 6 pm broadcast of a 60 Minutes episode on the Drake case, the government dropped all of the charges against Drake and agreed not to seek any jail time in return for Drake's agreement to plead guilty to a misdemeanor of misusing the agency's computer system. Drake was sentenced to one year of probation and community service.
There's "well of course a major communications corporation will spy on its customers if they can get paid well for it", and then there's "we have proof of a major communications corporation spying on its customers beyond the already excessive degree required by law and being paid well for it."