UNITED STATES V. MOHAMUD
41
a target inevitably returns communications in which nontargets are on the other end, some of whom will be U.S.
persons. Such ‘incidental’ collection of communications is
not accidental, nor is it inadvertent.” PCLOB Report at 82;
see also Laura K. Donohue, Section 702 and the Collection
of International Telephone and Internet Content, 38 Harv.
J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 117, 159–64, 259–62 (2015) (discussing the
relative volume and intrusiveness of surveillance authorized
under § 702). The fact that the government knew some U.S.
persons’ communications would be swept up during foreign
intelligence gathering does not make such collection any
more unlawful in this context than in the Title III or
traditional FISA context.
Mohamud and Amici also contend that the “sheer amount
of ‘incidental’ collection” separates § 702 from prior cases
where courts have found such collection permissible. We
agree with the district court’s observation that the most
troubling aspect of this “incidental” collection is not whether
such collection was anticipated, but rather its volume, which
is vast, not de minimis. See PCLOB Report at 114 (“The term
‘incidental’ is appropriate because such collection is not
accidental or inadvertent, but rather is an anticipated
collateral result of monitoring an overseas target. But the
term should not be understood to suggest that such collection
is infrequent or that it is an inconsequential part of the
Section 702 program.”). This quantity distinguishes § 702
collection from Title III and traditional FISA interceptions.
However, the mere fact that more communications are being
collected incidentally does not make it unconstitutional to
apply the same approach to § 702 collection, though it does
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