Domesticating Programmatic Surveillance: Some Thoughts on the NSA Controversy.

An essay is presented about the use of big data to detect security threats and how to balance the demands of national security and privacy and civil liberties. Topics discussed include the potential benefits of the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs, the constitutional and statutory issues associated with the programs and proposed guiding principles to ensure that surveillance is consistent with basic privacy and civil liberties values.