I recently stumbled upon this old article about NSA communications that feels very contemporary even though it's nearly 40 years old. I guess I knew that the NSA was doing these things way back then, but I didn't know the NYTimes was publishing articles informing the average American about the NSA's activity before Snowden's leaks.<p>The title is my attempt to fit the following key summary into HN's 80 char limit:<p><i>A Federal Court of Appeals recently ruled that the largest and most secretive intelligence agency of the United States, the National Security Agency, may lawfully intercept the overseas communications of Americans even if it has no reason to believe they are engaged in illegal activities. The ruling, which also allows summaries of these conversations to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, significantly broadens the already generous authority of the N.S.A. to keep track of American citizens.</i>