Communication spying of the PRISM variety [1] is <i>exactly</i> the kind of thing that should aid in the prevention of lone wolf style attacks. You&#x27;re telling me that a modern lone wolf never uses a web search to find out &quot;how to [buy an automatic rifle&#x2F;how to rent a car anonymously&#x2F;insert heinous act here]&quot;?<p>If the surveillance is gathering up these searches and still has no record of stopping attacks, then two options, amongst others, are: get better filtering and analysis techniques, or my preferred option, disband the (illegal) programs.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;PRISM_(surveillance_program)#Extent_of_the_program" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;PRISM_(surveillance_program)#E...</a>