2. How broad are the programs? Well, if anyone and everyone's information is scooped up and never discarded or rarely, you tell me.
3. What’s the legal rationale? Well, the STAR Chamber or FISA is the only one who could shed light on this but, that doesn't seem likely. It would run counter to Patriot Acts 1 & II. What is beyond the pale is to have a super secret court that can shut you down from communication anything about a Patriot Act action, including to your attorney. It's even more galling to know FISA is merely a rubber stamp bureaucracy but, is not responsible for seeing through the process of an investigation up to and including prosecution.
Further, I object to their use of "reasonable cause" when the 4th amendment calls for "probable cause"
4. Is the NSA still collecting email records?
Is that a trick question? Like Carnivore before PRISM, when one program "supposedly" ends another is started. Likely because the ability to collect information at ever great speed and volume becomes more capable. So yeah, they are still collecting.
5. Are there other programs that we don’t know about?
Sure. Of the many programs out there we have learned about over the years there would be others we don't know about and will continue until we figure out how to end this encroachment on freedeoms that asks only "If you don't have anything to hide, then what's the big deal?".
Bump.