The NSA began rapidly escalating its hacking efforts a decade ago. In 2004, according to secret internal records, the agency was managing a small network of only 100 to 150 implants. But over the next six to eight years, as an elite unit called Tailored Access Operations (TAO) recruited new hackers and developed new malware tools, the number of implants soared to tens of thousands.
Many voices equate 1)the installation of malware that makes the collection of information possible and 2)the actual collection of information.
Likewise, 2)the collection of information is equated with 3)processing that information to obtain information of interest are equated.
Furthermore 3)processing that information to obtain information of interest is equated with 4)using the information of interest to take action (prosecute or drone strike, for example).
Since equality is transitive, this kind of thinking equates 1)the installation of malware that makes the collection of information possible and 4)using the information of interest to take action (prosecute or drone strike, for example).
Granted that the situation is a slippery slope, but there is a difference between 1,2,3,and 4.