Your contention about data mining being contrary to the 4th Amendment is questionable and debatable.
How does blind crunching of data violate search and seizure?
As far as data mining, we’ve known the government is doing that for years.
Back in the day here at FR in the aughts when Bush was President it was discussed.
Back then Dems were all up in arms about it, as were some non-dems. Pretty much the exact same discussion as now without the Snowden disclosures to US enemies of useful details.
“Your contention about data mining being contrary to the 4th Amendment is questionable and debatable.
How does blind crunching of data violate search and seizure?”
If the government needs a warrant to inspect my mail or “crunch” my phone records, then they need a warrant for this too. I don’t see how that is debatable. If the government thought they needed no additional authority to do this, then they could have done it openly, rather than secretly. Instead, they hid the program, because they knew full well the repercussions of a public revelation.
“As far as data mining, we’ve known the government is doing that for years.”
Sorry, but you are just wrong on this point. I think you are confusing data mining with other types of surveillance programs that are similar, but not the same. The government data mining is a brand new revelation that at best was only speculated on prior to Snowden, and never confirmed.