Bulk NSA surveillance of computers and smartphones is done automatically. However, this type of bulk surveillance does not work (or does not work automatically as far as anyone knows now) with secure Internet connections like the ones set up when you securely log onto your bank account. Standard Internet connections use the HTTP protocol (hypertext transfer protocol) for bidirectional communication between your device and a remote server. However, when you log onto your bank account, the protocol is switched to a secure encrypted connection called HTTPS (hypertext transfer protocol secure).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Tor Project have teamed up to make a browser extension called "HTTPS Everywhere" which will set up secure connections to many web sites. You can get and install the browser add-ons here:
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Currently only the Firefox browser has a fully functional and tested extension available, but there are beta version extensions for Chrome, Opera and Firefox for Android devices. More browsers are likely to be supported in the future.
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