Wow-- this is an increase from 17 in 2008 to 91 in 2009. I would have guessed that both were several orders of magnitude higher.
25,000: Number of requests reported by Verizon alone
300: Number of those that were from federal agencies
17: Number reported by federal agencies to federal watchdogSo frankly even in this very narrow category, the numbers ARE probably two orders of magnitude higher, and if we were were to look at all electronic searches in the USA, it would be several more orders of magnitude higher. (And then if we were to look at the "national security" semi-legal surveillance going on in the U.S., it would be another many orders of magnitude higher.)
You have no idea how many they're issueing, and they'll keep it that way.
Also a single request can contain information for multiple individuals. One request could represent data on 1000 people.
The entire process is fudged. There is no accountability.
Domestic wiretapping is being used on all America citizens 24/7.
In the past few years, the N.S.A. has built enormous electronic-storage facilities in Texas and Utah. Binney says that an N.S.A. e-mail database can be searched with “dictionary selection,” in the manner of Google. After 9/11, he says, “General Hayden reassured everyone that the N.S.A. didn’t put out dragnets, and that was true. It had no need—it was getting every fish in the sea.”
...
Even in an age in which computerized feats are commonplace, the N.S.A.’s capabilities are breathtaking. The agency reportedly has the capacity to intercept and download, every six hours, electronic communications equivalent to the contents of the Library of Congress. Three times the size of the C.I.A., and with a third of the U.S.’s entire intelligence budget, the N.S.A. has a five-thousand-acre campus at Fort Meade protected by iris scanners and facial-recognition devices. The electric bill there is said to surpass seventy million dollars a year.
[0] http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_...
Additionally, 400% is a pretty sensational(ist) number, and any time the headline sounds trumped-up, it usually is.