ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the privacy objections to bulk collection, and why even some of the more sophisticated of these do not appear to the author to engage with the mechanics of bulk collection. It considers the Anderson Bulk Powers report. The chapter argues that bulk collection is privacy-violating, but maintains that the right to privacy can be limited by the right to security, and that bulk collection can be effective for ensuring security, as illustrated by the case studies in his report. The American government’s view before and even immediately after the Snowden disclosures was that United states (US) persons’ communication data privacy matters more than the communication data privacy of foreigners, and that the collection of mere meta-data rather than content either does not rise to the threshold of a privacy violation at all, or at least counts as a relatively minor intrusion.
