> I don't think it's a given that the right and proper thing for an intelligence agency to do is spy on every person it possibly can as much as it possibly can.

I do not understand what you mean by this. I am assuming you do not believe there is an analyst looking at every bit of data that flows through the internet backbone, so could you elaborate here? Are you referring to intelligence collection?

I'm not being specific about what the word "spy" means here, but just trying to make a general comment about what would appropriate for agencies like the CIA, NSA, FBI.

The parent comment seemed to imply that the goal/job of an intelligence agency ought to be to spy as much as possible on as many people as possible. I expressed doubt.

I was responding to the point that the initial commenter was making regarding spying as a whole. I agree with you that if we actually did literally spy on 7,000,000,000+ people it would be an incredibly massive waste of time and resources.

But I am also saying, more importantly, that it would be ethically wrong to try.