No se si la patriot act stará vigente mucho o poco tiempo, pero esta vigente AHORA y seguramete lo estará para cuando Vista llegue a los escritorios de todo el mundo, y creo que eso es lo relevante en este asunto.
Ahora bién , la patriot act supuestamente regula las actividades de inteligencia para ciudadnos Americanos dentro de los EUA, pero no hay ningúna restricción para esas activadades si se realizan fuera de EUA.
Cita: Title II covers all aspects of the surveillance of suspected terrorists, those suspected of engaging in computer fraud or abuse, and agents of a foreign power who are engaged in clandestine activities (in other words, spying). In particular, the title allows government agencies to gather "foreign intelligence information" from both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens, which is defined in section 203 of the title. Section 218 changed FISA to make "[the] significant purpose of the surveillance is to obtain foreign intelligence information" (change in italics). The change in definition was meant to remove a legal "wall" between criminal investigations and surveillance for the purposes of gathering foreign intelligence, which hampered investigations when criminal and foreign surveillance overlapped. However, that this wall even existed was found by the Federal Surveillance Court of Review to have actually been a long-held misinterpretation by government agencies. Section 203 also gave authorities the ability to share information gathered before a federal grand jury with other agencies.
Fuente...
El en "supuesto" caso que la NSA respete lo señalado en la patriot act y no espié dentro de EUA, aún asi no tiene ninguna restricción para espiar en el extranjero con o sin autorización como lo ha hecho en el pasado, por cualquier medio, como podría ser Windows Vista.
Además de que ofrece inmunidad legal a quien colabore.
Cita: Section 225 allows for legal immunity to any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or other person that provides any information, facilities, or technical assistance in accordance with a court order or request for emergency assistance
Saludos.