...surely NSA doesn't have the time and resources to analyze all of the data it gathers, and maybe it is not gathering as much data as some people claim.
That's just as speculative as absolutely every other bit of speculation that's flying around, though.
If you're in the NSA's shoes, and it turns out your budget is insufficient to analyze the mass of stuff you're recording, you don't stop recording stuff. You'd use this "analysis crisis" to justify additional budget for expanded analysis efforts, especially if it takes the form of automatic systems developed and sold by contractors located in the districts of selected legislators.
My own speculation is that yes, they're recording and keeping (for a little while, at least) absolutely everything they can get their hands on, doing massive damage to the ideals of freedom and democracy and America in general in the process, but surprise surprise, all that recording simply turns out to be much less useful than everyone had hoped.
"The police," broadly speaking, have argued for (often successfully) more and more high-tech spying capability for many decades now, but it's not obvious that such capabilities have made any big improvement in public safety. We may all fantasize about magic wands that could make our jobs easier; for some reason, American authoritarians actually believe they can buy such a thing.
That's just as speculative as absolutely every other bit of speculation that's flying around, though.
If you're in the NSA's shoes, and it turns out your budget is insufficient to analyze the mass of stuff you're recording, you don't stop recording stuff. You'd use this "analysis crisis" to justify additional budget for expanded analysis efforts, especially if it takes the form of automatic systems developed and sold by contractors located in the districts of selected legislators.
My own speculation is that yes, they're recording and keeping (for a little while, at least) absolutely everything they can get their hands on, doing massive damage to the ideals of freedom and democracy and America in general in the process, but surprise surprise, all that recording simply turns out to be much less useful than everyone had hoped.
"The police," broadly speaking, have argued for (often successfully) more and more high-tech spying capability for many decades now, but it's not obvious that such capabilities have made any big improvement in public safety. We may all fantasize about magic wands that could make our jobs easier; for some reason, American authoritarians actually believe they can buy such a thing.