I think it's facetious to imply that the NSA cannot get a warrant anytime it wants. My answer as a hacker would be that the justice system should make an API th

I think it's facetious to imply that the NSA cannot get a warrant anytime it wants. My answer as a hacker would be that the justice system should make an API through which the NSA makes these requests and the judges reply. It would be both fast and logged. Make the logs classified for 25 years; just not infinity. A "Hot" investigation is one that will likely have a judge standing by, if that becomes the standard by which the NSA must conduct its business. What I am objecting to is the idea of anonymous, unquestionable, omniscient wiretapping. That's quite different from pursuing a case. To put it explicitly: It is not an equitable social compromise to tap all of the data at a switch versus tapping a known session or known port. The NSA has the capability to tap anything they want, it's just easier to take everything. What I'm pissed about is not that the NSA is wiretapping people. You should know the NSA is wiretapping people. What I'm pissed off about is that the NSA is so lazy that they dragnet everything instead of tapping the stuff they need. Sifting through everything looking for an indication of crime is very different from tactically selecting specific instances for evaluation. Again, I believe in the capabilities of the US Intelligence agencies and I believe they are smart enough to not require a dragnet to do their work. It's not really Voldemort evil, they want to protect us. The problem is laziness; the banality of evil.