Now It's been more than eight years since Edward Snowden's revelations confirmed just how pervasive the "monitoring" is, but neither the American people nor their representatives in Congress have demanded a stop, or even significant changes to it.
And remember, after 911 - Americans gave up our rights to privacy under what was called the Patriot's act.. I don't see us ever having privacy again. The day that happened, I shouted NO! This will give NSA the right to collect data on all Americans.... and all foreigners. It was too far reaching and we are being completely monitored. As a former employee in the 70's, I know what some of their capability was back then. I can only imagine what it is today.
I was a Telecom tech back then for NSA.. I did not handle the actual collected information in readable form. I was part of the army of ants keeping all the data flowing. We did not have internet. Even so, for its time, it was significant what was accomplished.
I don't speak of my time there even though it is nearly 50 years ago now. Some of the highly classified stuff in which I was involved I am sure is still highly classified. But I do feel that the NSA can collect huge quantities of information and can process it. Given the 70s tech I witnessed, I can only imagine what the possibilities might be.
By the way Brits, your GCHQ has quite the big collection operations. They were then and I assume still are sharing it with NSA. I expect the Aussies and all the friendly nations are sharing big information.
We have little or no privacy if we are on the web.. Phones? Yeah, you can bet that is all monitored also.
If you want to be left alone, get rid of your electronic devices.. (good luck with that..)