The NSA isn't some all-powerful entity. They play by different rules, but there are still rules. If ATT had really pushed back, the NSA would have been hard pr

The NSA isn't some all-powerful entity. They play by different rules, but there are still rules. If ATT had really pushed back, the NSA would have been hard pressed to install and run tapping equipment. And that's on hardline voice, where CALEA obviously applies. But as far as I know ATT didn't really fight, once they were legally covered from liability. The modern large scale cloud or social providers are younger companies, have fewer government ties, and (critically) have worldwide business. I would automatically assume they all have data sharing agreements with the NSA, as a maximal threat assumption, but as a likely threat I expect it'd be a lot harder for the NSA to co-opt them. I.e. why the NSA instead chose to tap Google's private fiber between their data centers