14 DAY TRIAL // If it’s one thing you can say about Google is that it has a really good sense of humor. Sure, that’s been obvious countless times over the years through the Easter eggs scattered around its sites and services, or through the doodles it sometimes uses to replace the Google logo on the search engine.
Well, there’s a little jewel hidden in Google maps that pokes a bit of fun at the NSA.
If you search for the NSA Utah data center, the place where the intelligence agency has been spending many, many tens of millions of dollars, you’ll get the famous location that’s been the topic of discussion for so many news articles.
The funny part comes, however, from a mix of Google and the Maps community. The first thing you’ll notice is the tag attached to the place. “NSA Utah Data Center” reads the top line, while underneath, you’ll notice the first jibe at the intelligence agency – “hard drive – backup service.”
Even better, in the cards displayed on the left side of Maps, you’ll be able to see 47 reviews for the place and notice that it has only got a 1.7 score for the service it provides. The reviews shared by people for the place are also hilarious and perfectly fit the type of “service” the data center providers, according to Maps.
“My hard drive crashed and they wouldn’t send me their backup copy,” complains one reviewer, hinting to the mass surveillance practices so popular with the NSA.