Good overview of what they are up to.
The NSA is not only the world’s largest spy agency (far larger than the CIA, for example), but it possesses the most advanced technology for intercepting communications. We know it has long had the ability to focus powerful surveillance capabilities on particular individuals or communications. But the current scandal has indicated two new and significant elements of the agency’s eavesdropping:
- The NSA has gained direct access to the telecommunications infrastructure through some of America’s largest companies
- The agency appears to be not only targeting individuals, but also using broad “data mining” systems that allow them to intercept and evaluate the communications of millions of people within the United States.
The Parliament report is here.