>>> Why spy on your own citizens when that makes them blackmail-able by foreign nation states? >>> Seriously, the quickest, cheapest, easiest way to spy on som

>>> Why spy on your own citizens when that makes them blackmail-able by foreign nation states? >>> Seriously, the quickest, cheapest, easiest way to spy on someone in the US (or any 5 eyes) is through our own "security" agencies > You can get a database of everyone's metadata communications by sending them a phishing message? Certainly, I don't keep even all my information on my computer, or even a single phone, and I think phishing _everyone_ is harder than you're making out. You're moving the goalposts: before your ninja edit, you were only talking about the easiest way to spy on someone, not everyone. If you phish someone, you can get the content. Why settle for just metadata? And what good is metadata for your blackmail use-case? The difference between metadata and content is the difference between knowing you communicate with your coworker and knowing you're cheating on your wife with her. Only one of those things is useful to a blackmailer. Also, what exactly is a foreign power's use case for targeting everyone in the US, or being really interested mainly in metadata, when their goals mean they're mainly really interested in specific people and organizations and the content or systems they have access to?