but at the same time also. No matter how big you think the Gummit might be, they just ain't big enough to watch everybody. And on a more realistic level, they are not even big enough to see what afterwards always appears to be pretty obvious signs of unstable personalities coupled with the intent of doing harm..... and if possible, great harm. So I always take the conspiratorial matters with a grain of salt.
While the government does not look at every electronic communication in their entirety, they do have the capability to pull out key phrases or words especially when it comes to terrorism conversations (any media) that are in the 'clear'. The digital age has made it so much easier to keep tabs on people and what they say to each other. They don't need a warrant for that type of listening unless they get enough 'evidence' to tap all the conversations. Any communications that travel over the broadband, air waves or cellular physical transports can be monitored and are.
They won't send you an email if you are noticed. They will 'flag' you just like someone who highlights a page in a report. Most of the time this goes nowhere but if you apply for something governmental requiring a clearance it may hinder the process. Now if guys in suits knock on your door then you should worry.... Cause that's the way it will happen, not an email or phone call.
With that being said I also tape over the camera and disable the microphone if I have those capabilities. Any newer electronic device can monitor especially those that use audio to control functions such as my Samsung Smart TV or Alexa or any of those devices.
I'm not being paranoid with this. There's nothing going on in my life that would cause anyone to really look at what I say and do. I'm just saying that if you think about how digital we are and especially with the power of current computing systems, nothing is impossible in the way of keeping tabs on anyone that uses digital devices. And in a way, I'm glad they are doing this on some level. The best way to stop terrorism events is to get ahead of those before they happen.
In order to get away from Big Brother, you need to go off the grid but we have satellites now that can see you even then. The age of privacy is basically gone especially with all the hacked companies we hear about.
My normal email was compromised a month ago. Within a few days someone was trying to get in to ebay using my account credentials. It didn't work and I knew it was happening after I checked my phone and saw a bazillion messages with codes. Thank goodness I turned on two step authentication with ebay. I've turned it on with all my accounts that use it. It's a few seconds more but I feel a lot better using it.