He meant they were not looking for a particular domestic call/person. They collect everything; just imagine how difficult it is to find one particular call among billions of calls daily. Useless there is an overwhelming reason of national security, it is simply too expensive, too resource consuming to bother. No one is listening to your phone calls.
>> They collect everything; just imagine how difficult it is to find one particular call among billions of calls daily.
Two words: Artificial Intelligence
AfterJ6 they were collecting data on every electronic device and transaction in DC, even those who flew into the near airports. They didnt need to know your conversation, only to pinpoint your location and movements
HOW MUCH FUN ARE THEY HAVING LISTENING IN ON “CALLS TO SEX TALKERS”?
Automated voice analysis systems can listen in to any phone call that is on a "person of interest" list. The monitoring can be done in real-time. No human may ever hear those calls unless they are flagged for special attention by the monitoring software.
I would expect that every international phone call is monitored in such fashion. Or at least every phone call to/from selected countries.
Does the government listen to my calls? Well, if they ever do, I suppose I am in position 26,090,176 on their action list and they are a bit short-handed these days, what with DOGE and all. It will take them a while to get around to me.