President George W. Bush — whose administration either looked the other way or was asleep at the switch on 9/11 — pushed through congressional legislation in 2006 and 2007 that immunized telecom and internet providers from liability in return for their compelled cooperation with the feds. So, when the feds come calling, the providers have no choice but to open the front door. The feds are now permanently located at all service providers’ mainframe computer sites.
I assume this is all still running. Wonder what it would take for the law to finally be enforced and shut it down.