The National Security Agency has a program - codenamed "Dishfire" - that sweeps up millions of text messages every day, mostly from people who have nothing to do with terrorism or national security.

Snowden strikes again.

Guardian:

The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents.

The untargeted collection and storage of SMS messages - including their contacts - is revealed in a joint investigation between the Guardian and the UK's Channel 4 News based on material provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The documents also reveal the UK spy agency GCHQ has made use of the NSA database to search the metadata of "untargeted and unwarranted" communications belonging to people in the UK.

The NSA program, codenamed Dishfire, collects "pretty much everything it can", according to GCHQ documents, rather than merely storing the communications of existing surveillance targets.

The NSA has made extensive use of its vast text message database to extract information on people's travel plans, contact books, financial transactions and more - including of individuals under no suspicion of illegal activity.

An agency presentation from 2011 - subtitled "SMS Text Messages: A Goldmine to Exploit" - reveals the program collected an average of 194 million text messages a day in April of that year. In addition to storing the messages themselves, a further program known as "Prefer" conducted automated analysis on the untargeted communications.

The Prefer program uses automated text messages such as missed call alerts or texts sent with international roaming charges to extract information, which the agency describes as "content-derived metadata", and explains that "such gems are not in current metadata stores and would enhance current analytics".

On average, each day the NSA was able to extract:

• More than 5 million missed-call alerts, for use in contact-chaining analysis (working out someone's social network from who they contact and when)
• Details of 1.6 million border crossings a day, from network roaming alerts
• More than 110,000 names, from electronic business cards, which also included the ability to extract and save images.
• Over 800,000 financial transactions, either through text-to-text payments or linking credit cards to phone users

The agency was also able to extract geolocation data from more than 76,000 text messages a day, including from "requests by people for route info" and "setting up meetings". Other travel information was obtained from itinerary texts sent by travel companies, even including cancellations and delays to travel plans.

These surveillance programs are getting harder for congressional supporters to defend. The daily assault on our privacy - including our most intimate communications - cannot be justified under any reasonable definition of "anti-terrorist" programs.

No doubt such programs as Dishfire and Prefer make the NSA's job easier. But at what cost? Is "easier" always "better?" Are there technological alternatives that would be more focused in targeting actual bad guys rather than millions of us who are no threat to the state?

There is little impetus from congress or the White House to truly reform the NSA and draw narrower lines that the spooks can cross to gather information without the wholesale violation of our privacy. Until there is, anti-snooping software will be doing land office business.