That does seem to preclude dragnet requests. But what is google going to do when the NSA asks for all the mail from "foo@gmail.com"? Is NSA going to give some j

That does seem to preclude dragnet requests. But what is google going to do when the NSA asks for all the mail from "foo@gmail.com"? Is NSA going to give some justification for why the need access? Now what happens if the NSA issues thousands of those requests? They are not broad, they are for specific people. As to following proper procedure, it appears rather strongly that secret procedures allows the NSA to request a hell of a lot legally and may not provide much safeguard for preventing abuse. We don't know because the procedures are secret. Again, the companies in question appear to have little choice in the matter and that probably absolves them of a lot, but that doesn't mean the situation is ok from the view of what they were compeled to do.