“The Fourth Amendment prohibits “general warrants” as issued under the Crown. These warrants bear an uncomfortable resemblance.”
But its for your safety and the chilldruuun.
The problem for the government here is the difference between intelligence gathering and criminal investigation.
Intelligence gathering by definition requires looking at an enormous mass of material to determine which of it requires more careful observation. Look at the criticism of the government after 9/11 for not having prevented the attacks. The only way they could conceivably have done so is by separating the signal of the attackers plot out of a nearly infinite amount of background noise.
I suspect a major reason why the NSA is looking at “everything,” is political correctness. Somewhat similar to searching everybody by the TSA.
Can’t focus on the more likely dangers, that would be profiling. So they are forced to gather data on everybody if they want to have data on the real threats.
Not saying they’re right in doing so, just that this is the dynamic at work.