I can understand why it would be helpful to identify particular sites and their users because basically, there is too much information to analyse if you just look at *everyone*.

Think of it like this, I have multiple entry points to the Internet. To find out everything about me you could either: (1) steal all my computers and read the hard drives (I'd probably notice and change my plans if I was a terrorist); (2) Try and figure out all my likely points of access and monitor them (testing, I may move fast and unpredictably - it's a very small world full of fast planes), or (3) Figure out what resources I use, or behaviour patterns I use and then
see if you can work out what is original about me. Once you've got that, it's fairly easy to not only track me, but predict where I'm going next.

What my question would be, if the stories are true, is *if the US (or ANO)govt has the technology to do this - why would they assume that everyone else doesn't also have it too?*