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while they might not have access to the "Google servers", it now is almost certain they have access to the "Google network" (i.e. fiber cable access). as seen in previous reports, intercepting sea fiber optic traffic between continents seems something the NSA has mastered...

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> while they might not have access to the "Google servers", it now is almost certain they have access to the "Google network" (i.e. fiber cable access).

If the article is correct, the NSA does not have that. What they have is an agreement that they can submit search terms and get matching data from a system operated by their British counterpart, GCHQ.

It is GCHQ who, per the article, has a direct tap somewhere inside Google's unencrypted datacenter-to-datacenter communications network.

There have been reports going back to the Echelon days that the NSA and GCHQ collaborate to evade each nation's laws.

The ideas is that US agencies supply the UK with technology and training, the UK collects sigint in the US with US knowledge, then shares intelligence with US agencies.

The US reciprocates by spying on UK citizens and sharing the intelligence with UK agencies.

That way US agencies can say they don't spy on innocent Americans on US soil. But it's just another elaborate deception.

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