Those are the forces at play, but you’re just guessing how that manifests itself in the real world. I’ll bet it’s all a lot more bureaucratic than you think it is— secret FISA courts wouldn’t exist if it was just a free-for-all the second it was out of sight.

That’s why these agencies buy data from brokers: sidestepping the mechanisms in place to stop them from getting it straight from the source for free.