One point: It's only Orwellian IF it affects our lives.

The NSA's aim is to have zero detection, universal metadata mining, and eventual action items for law enforcement to follow up on, as the FBI has the most broad authority to act within the US, on such information, as opposed to NSA, DIA, CIA, etc.. This takes the argument past the "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" level. If you aren't acting in a pattern with a certain correlation to patterns of known and suspected terrorist/foreign-militants, then you have nothing to fear. Frankly, it might be a step in the right direction to further narrow focus away from random individuals who just have casual relationships with any dangerous-foreignly-motivated-entity: lived next door to, went to high-school with, played on a team with, worked with, had children at the same childcare facility as, etc.

SO... as they use data mining to shrink the "drag-net", we may all have more freedom.(?)

That is one position.

But... Advertisement (Marketing) is what drives the (global) economy. The economy runs on marketing creating a "want" out of thin air which creates commerce. Everything else just supports that consumerism.

Even toilet paper is advertised (Charmin Bear Commercials, as an example) but it doesn't need to be because you need to wipe your *** everyday you stay alive to get that next thing you don't actually need. Same with toothe paste, electric bills, and *credit cards*... all things we may not want but *need* in western society, to at least maintain our current lifestyle. Food? You need so McD's actually gets a pass as they are trying to shift your pre-existing need in their favor. But if you want to enjoy your crappy McD's you better brush often and stock lots of toilet paper. If you are using a credit card to buy food, you are already a victim.

So, yeah, this seems like a great idea but on a large scale its going to disrupt economies.