The government has way over stepped it's bounds in response to the terrorist threat. I realized it first when I read a New Yorker article on the NSA[0].
In the past few years, the N.S.A. has built enormous electronic-storage facilities in Texas and Utah. Binney says that an N.S.A. e-mail database can be searched with “dictionary selection,” in the manner of Google. After 9/11, he says, “General Hayden reassured everyone that the N.S.A. didn’t put out dragnets, and that was true. It had no need—it was getting every fish in the sea.”
...
Even in an age in which computerized feats are commonplace, the N.S.A.’s capabilities are breathtaking. The agency reportedly has the capacity to intercept and download, every six hours, electronic communications equivalent to the contents of the Library of Congress. Three times the size of the C.I.A., and with a third of the U.S.’s entire intelligence budget, the N.S.A. has a five-thousand-acre campus at Fort Meade protected by iris scanners and facial-recognition devices. The electric bill there is said to surpass seventy million dollars a year.
when would they announce their co-location (and/or AWS cloud type) services? It can be a nice additional revenue stream (colo/cloud revenue is 5-10x electricity, ie. hundreds of millions per year in this case) that would ease US federal budget problems.
You have no idea how many they're issueing, and they'll keep it that way.
Also a single request can contain information for multiple individuals. One request could represent data on 1000 people.
The entire process is fudged. There is no accountability.
Domestic wiretapping is being used on all America citizens 24/7.