The method that totally wouldn’t have been used was to have a foreign ally in Five Eyes track all cell phones and correlate the information with security cameras. Then they share the intelligence with the US. Technically on the edge of legal but they know the shit storm if americans generally knew how surveilled they are. We literally would hand them all our related files, ask them to spot suspects, and hand us back the answer. The soaking version of surveillance.
Part of the point of the Snowden leaks was that they don’t completely give a shit about those limitations. I’m sure the details vary in various parts of the apparatus, but as I understand it they don’t even really bother with the fig leaf anymore (even as of that pretty long ago time at this point).
The method that totally wouldn’t have been used was to have a foreign ally in Five Eyes track all cell phones and correlate the information with security cameras. Then they share the intelligence with the US. Technically on the edge of legal but they know the shit storm if americans generally knew how surveilled they are. We literally would hand them all our related files, ask them to spot suspects, and hand us back the answer. The soaking version of surveillance.
Part of the point of the Snowden leaks was that they don’t completely give a shit about those limitations. I’m sure the details vary in various parts of the apparatus, but as I understand it they don’t even really bother with the fig leaf anymore (even as of that pretty long ago time at this point).