[tomder55]

It's called 'upstream surveillance ' NSA collects all data coming into the country . upstream surveillance involves collecting communications as they travel over the Internet backbone, and downstream surveillance (formerly PRISM) involves collection of communications from companies like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo.

Upstream vs. PRISM | Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org)

What it does is give NSA almost blank check access to the private communications of Americans .

The Government is Using its Foreign Intelligence Spying Powers for Routine Domestic Investigations | ACLU

2015 Wiki filed suit because this "surveillance dragnet" was an unlawful invasion of Americans' privacy that violates the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.

“The surveillance that we’re challenging gives the government virtually unfettered access to U.S. communications and the content of those communications,” said Patrick Toomey, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is bringing the litigation on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, and a group of human rights and media organizations including The Nation magazine and Amnesty International, who say that their sensitive overseas communications are imperiled by the NSA’s snooping."

Wikipedia Sues NSA Over Dragnet Internet Surveillance (theintercept.com)

The case has made it's way up the judicial process.
Judges in the 4th Circus court dismissed the case . So it was appealed to SCOTUS

Last week SCOTUS declined to hear the case because national security would suffer if they had to explain why they were spying on Americans despite the constitutional restrictions .

U.S. Supreme Court snubs Wikipedia bid to challenge NSA surveillance | Reuters

So there you have it . State secrets supersede citizens constitutional rights in 21st century America .