NSA Uses Google Cookies to Target Suspects

The new revelation reported in the Washington Post is not that earth shaking in itself, but it points out how the NSA builds big haystacks of data, making it harder to find a needle.  The experienced terrorist is probably not using Google to roam the internet, so a lot of effort by the NSA probably only tracks the average person, whether they are in the US, Brazil or Germany.  It is intrusive surveillance of people not suspected of doing anything bad.

Separately, the NSA is also using commercially gathered information to help it locate mobile devices around the world, the documents show. Many smartphone apps running on iPhones and Android devices, and the Apple and Google operating systems themselves, track the location of each device, often without a clear warning to the phone's owner. This information is more specific than the broader location data the government is collecting from cellular phone networks, as reported by the Post last week.
"On a macro level, 'we need to track everyone everywhere for advertising' translates into 'the government being able to track everyone everywhere,'" says Chris Hoofnagle, a lecturer in residence at UC Berkeley Law. "It's hard to avoid."