> they could just get the courts to subpoena Google for the data I think that's one of the motivations right there. Even if FISA generally gives the government

> they could just get the courts to subpoena Google for the data I think that's one of the motivations right there. Even if FISA generally gives the government what it wants, it's still a process that the government appears to regard as a hassle to be eliminated. I think the second reason is that google is a sophisticated enough company that they could perhaps infer things from the data request patterns that the requesting agencies would prefer secret.