They may not "have everyone's data", but they have data on most Americans in one form or another. Presumably pretty extensive data. You can claim the NSA has data on the majority of people and still recognize the FBI doesn't need to have access to the drives of whatever mobile devices they are able to convince a judge to let them into.
Laaw|10 years ago
Where did you hear that? It's not in anything that's been leaked, and the NSA surely didn't say it, so I'm curious where you got that information.
To be fair, I'm assuming you're talking about data collected clandestinely, not stuff like tax information or social security number (obviously the government has that data). If you're just talking about the data that gets generated as part of being a citizen of the US, then yes, the NSA, FBI, IRS, etc. probably does have that information.
pdkl95|10 years ago
Yes, it has been, though the exact nature of that "data" depends on your interpretation, and "everyone" is obviously only and approximate value. The NSA has even admitted to collecting most telephone records under the "phone metadata program".
They also keep a sliding-window capture of data that includes a "full take" of the backbone in some areas. This was still being deployed at the time the leaked documents were written, so the coverage is variable, but we can assume it's only increased. Note that this is covered by one of the NSA's "creative reinterpretations"; they pretend that the data isn't "captured" until someone actually looks the data up in XKEYSCORE. This is patently absurd.
lololomg|10 years ago
This is just false. It's literally the main reason Snowden went public.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)
fit2rule|10 years ago