NSA's 'Looking for Foreign Terrorist' Excuse for Spying On Americans Falls Apart: 90% of Intercepted Conversations Were Not 'Intended Surveillance Targets'

(Illustration by EFF)

By Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
The Washington Post said on Saturday a study of a large collection of communications intercepted by the U.S. National Security Agency showed that ordinary Internet users, including Americans, far outnumbered legally targeted foreigners caught in the surveillance.

"Nine of 10 account holders found in a large cache of intercepted conversations, which former NSA contractor Edward Snowden provided in full to The Post, were not the intended surveillance targets but were caught in a net the agency had cast for somebody else," the Post said.

Nearly half of the files "contained names, email addresses or other details that the NSA marked as belonging to U.S. citizens or residents," it said.

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