NSA spy power

NSA scans 75% of the Internet

August 21, 2013

(Credit: iStockphoto)

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday the existence of several NSA programs that allow for far greater surveillance than the government has admitted to, and, importantly, detail how the government forces Internet service providers (ISPs) to hand over raw data,TechCrunch reports.

The programs have the ability to “reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic,” according to the Journal, “including a wide array of communications by foreigners and Americans.”

That content includes the writing of emails — not merely their metadata — and touches phone calls placed inside the U.S. that use digital telephony.

During the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City, the NSA worked with the FBI to track all email and text message communications of everyone in the area for a six-month period.