AND MY CREDIT CARDS TOO.

Over the decades the main and secondary focii have changed as the political and criminal situation has changed, but it is still ongoing and still looks at all communications with all persons outside of the key countries. The US units do NOT monitor any communications that are solely within the US borders, while the Australian units do NOT monitor communications within the Australian borders and the same is true of the other member countries, but all communications that cross the borders of those countries are monitored either just at the border or just across the border.

On a couple of other issues you raise:

Much of what you complain about is due NOT to the NSA but the greed of people that allow rich US and international businessmen to buy them off. Some is done by petty bureaucrats with power who want things to go a certain way and misuse their power and resources to do so – the CIA is big in this area.

Also, many of the international political screw up over the last 25 years have been more due to over timid European leaders not allowing proper responses to various terrorist activities, and their supporting communist agendas in the UN that are causing all sorts of problem for the non-communist countries. BTW There are a lot of communist countries with votes in the UN, the USSR and China were just the two largest.

Another is the fact I’m an Australian and not an American and do NOT like a lot of the ills caused around the world by the corporate management of the US companies and those of other countries, but that is no excuse to blame all the Americans or citizens of the other countries, or the people doing a job they’ve been legally doing for decades.

As to secret courts, there shouldn’t be any, but the US is NOT the only one that has them, and some countries have public courts where the rules and laws are worse than any in the secret courts.

The cold war is over. Now these fuckers are hunting for technology and research data under the guise of battling terrorism. My ASS. The FBI lured in potential terrorists, supplied a fake car bomb and let the suspect push the button so they can right on the spot arrest him and off to Guantanamo it is. Secret courts are unconstitutional (at least in this part of the world) and not a single fuck was given about a country that is responsible for 2 of the biggest market collapses within a time frame of a century, the endless warmongering on everything that confronts corporate or lobbyist interests and on privacy and human rights.

You know that back in the good ol’ days it was perfectly legal to have slaves… to treat human beings as property.

Why the fuck shouldn’t we use this opportunity of public dismay and put pressure on the elite. Laws change and so can this bullshit. At least disband the secret courts and introduce proper proceedings. Why must it be a secret court? Why gather data that is unconstitutional on your own ground and swap the info with other foreign agencies to EVADE the constitutionally granted rights of any citizen. What kind of fucking nonsense is this? In order to catch the bad guys you gotta be a bad guy?

But hey at least these agencies are committed to protecting society and are truly dedicated professionals. FUCK THAT!

Presidents should be professionals, still get impeached, as should have happened with Bush and Obummer.

But oh noes! Murika was out for blood and must fight them turrorists “there” so they don’t come “here”…

USA imperialists go fuck yourself.

It would now appear that the people at the EFF are as clueless as Snowden. Everything I’ve seen on this to date is just a rehash of the Echelon Program stuff that’s been going on for over 60 years and is lawful under US law as the intercepts are happening when the communications cross the border or just outside the border in Canada. Another great waste of court time as this has been before the courts in the past and found to be legal and constitutional under US law.