The NSA has been conducting unethical and illegal activities, in its search and seizure of information about citizens without warrants. Under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure without warrant and without support from probable cause, this is clearly illegal.
However, if a party gives consent to a search, the warrant is not required. We recognize there are useful benefits for large-scale governmental data collection. To reconcile these benefits with the ethical principles of the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution, we request informed consent about the information being collected from the people.