Yeah, it falls into the trap of too many "secret history" pieces, both in terms of failing to understand the specific area of research (such as, in this case, m

Yeah, it falls into the trap of too many "secret history" pieces, both in terms of failing to understand the specific area of research (such as, in this case, mistaking the term "birds of a feather" for being connected to the concept of a "query flock" in association-rule mining, and then assuming without evidence that both of those terms were related to some concept of tracking people through their online behavior) and drawing too many, and too-thick, connections between loosely- or even unrelated events, people, or groups. It doesn't take much to go from "these are some interesting connections that are worth exploring" to "giant wall o' crazy." This, of course, doesn't change the fact that -- not long after the time period in question -- the IC did start working with the telcos to conduct mass surveillance, but the intimations that they secretly funded Google in order to create a private surveillance state that they could exploit strains credulity, and gives the IC waaaaay too much credit for both foresight and cynicism.