http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slate...its_legal.html
The National Security Agency overstepped its authority and broke privacy rules on thousands of occasions since 2008, reports Barton Gellman of the Washington Post.
More from the Washington Post:
The NSA audit obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications. Most were unintended. Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure. The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.
“some collection carried out pursuant to the Section 702 minimization procedures used by the government was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”