And what these programs are, are very simple screens, like the ones that supermarket clerks or shipping and receiving clerks use, where all an analyst has to do is enter an email address or an IP address, and it does two things.

It searches that database and lets them listen to the calls or read the emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms that you’ve entered, and it also alerts them to any further activity that people connected to that email address or that IP address do in the future.

All this stinks to high heaven. I do think there should be checks on data collection, but I absolutely hate misinformation and scaremongering. Simple screens? Gasp! Nefarious! These screens should be tiny and complicated and accessible only to a very smart budgerigar trained in COBOL. Punching in an email to pull up all your phone calls (pre-recorded naturally!)? Maintaining a database indexed solely on email and IP? Sounds plausible and makes total sense, since you me & the NSA know that your email, IP, and phone number are permanent forever, completely unchangeable, tied together, and engraved on your birth certificate. This sounds like the nonsense people try to give you at the repair shop if they think you don’t know much about cars. Just enough to scare you.