The Internet is global — and the NSA’s exploiting that to collect information about Americans’ e-mails

"The American public and Congress seem to assume that regulating the NSA's activities in the U.S. will be enough to protect our privacy. But because of the global nature of the Internet, it will not, and this highlights the need to rein in the NSA's authority both under the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 that is set to be renewed next year, and Executive Order 12333," said Kevin Bankston, the director of New America's Open Technology Institute. "Both of these spying authorities are supposedly targeted at people outside of the U.S., but this story confirms that they are also being used substantially to spy on Americans, as well."