If you had asked anyone back then whether the government was storing and intercepting all electronic communications, I would guess most smart people would have said yes or "probably". There's something that flipped the switch from "meh" to "omg" with regards to that knowledge, and in my opinion, it's purely the way the media frames it.

It's the same thing with social media analytics. Everyone even slightly smart knew Facebook made it possible for companies to do extremely targeted advertising campaigns. Only when the media decided it had to be bad because it could be used by people on "the other side" did they flip the switch from "meh" to "omg" in people's mind regarding this.

So basically, everyone that suddenly started to care about analytics in the last two weeks; what I've laid out above is the proof that you're all mind-controlled zombies. Start thinking for yourself; take the information you have, and make your own conclusions about whether it's good, bad, worth or not worth freaking out about. Don't wait for the media to give those conclusions to you, because they don't operate on principles, the operate in what is to their benefit.