It was common knowledge at least as far back as 2000. Of course, then it was dismissed as a crackpot conspiracy theory by the same people who are now dismissing it because it was common knowledge.

And no, the legality is still very much in question. Even if you accept the legitimacy of the laws that were written after the fact to legalize what the NSA had been doing for years... we're now learning that they're not even complying with those laws.

I would literally kill to have Snowden or Manning running this country.