Through upstream surveillance, the NSA is authorized to collect data on Internet users who communicate with “non U.S. persons” if it any way relates to national security or foreign affairs
Upstream collection is a term used by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States for intercepting telephone and Internet traffic from the Internet backbone, i.e. major Internet cables and switches, both domestic and foreign. Besides the Upstream collection, NSA also gathers information Stop Upstream Surveillance: The NSA is Overreaching, and Dec 14, 2016 Meltdown Showed Extent of NSA Surveillance — and Other May 29, 2019 Secret Court: FBI Warrantless Searches Were Illegal Oct 08, 2019
Wikimedia upstream lawsuit underlines massive government
May 24, 2017 FISA's Section 702 & the Privacy Conundrum: Surveillance Oct 25, 2017 ACLU Files Suit Against NSA 'Upstream' Surveillance
NSA Should Have Addressed Its Upstream Problem in 2013
(Recall that, as the PCLOB’s 2014 report explained, under the NSA’s 702 minimization procedures “U.S. person identifiers are prohibited from being used to query the NSA’s Section 702 upstream collection of Internet transactions.”). NSA Backs Down on Warrantless Surveillance Program