Jacob Sullum on the NSA’s Online Dragnet

The targets of the warrantless
wiretaps authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence
Survelllance Act are supposed to be foreigners located outside of
the United States, and the purpose of the surveillance is supposed
to be the acquisition of “foreign intelligence information,”
implying that the targets are suspected spies or terrorists. But
judging from a recent analysis by The Washington
Post, Jacob Sullum writes, about half of the people whose
communications the National Security Agency intercepts are U.S.
citizens or legal residents, and the vast majority are innocent
bystanders.

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