NSA's New Technology

Here's about the best set of speculation about NSA's program that I've seen. Ars Technica deserves a little more play than it gets -- just because it's primarily a site for computer geeks who incessantly tinker with their equipment doesn't mean that it's not technologically savvy in a wide range of areas.

That said, let me boil the point Ars makes down to a couple sentences. Most likely the NSA is using a new combination of hardware and software tools that goes orders of magnitude beyond what wiretap technology has been in the past. Instead of looking at specific targets and then following them, most likely what's happening is a rolling mass wiretap of virtually all communications into and out of the United States. Your phone call to Aunt Ingrid in Denmark will be picked up for a few seconds, reviewed by software for content and voice signatures, and then passed by for other calls. If your call to a band in France includes a mention of some act 'bombing,' if that phrase is picked up, that call and subsequent calls may be more scrupulously monitored. Etc.