Side note: Sec 702 of the FAA gives NSA complete immunity from all federal, state, and local laws, criminal prosecutions, and civil lawsuits when doing this kin

Side note: Sec 702 of the FAA gives NSA complete immunity from all federal, state, and local laws, criminal prosecutions, and civil lawsuits when doing this kind of fiber tapping. "Notwithstanding" is an extremely powerful phrase. Wildcard. Trumps all other laws. (And this is why some of us were concerned about CISPA, which uses the identical language. Note CISPA's proponents have quietly faded into the woodwork post-Snowden revelations.)