John Ribeiro reports: The U.S. government has asked industry for information on whether commercially available services can provide a viable alternative to the government’s holding bulk phone records for a program of the National Security Agency. The government’s collection of bulk phone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act has been at the center…
Category: Govt
FISC Approves Government’s Request to Modify Telephony Metadata Program
From James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence: February 6, 2014 During his speech on Jan. 17, 2014, President Obama ordered a transition that will end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk data. As a…
Challenger Seeks Prompt Access to Surveillance Records
Zoe Tillman reports: Larry Klayman, the attorney and activist challenging the U.S. government’s surveillance efforts in court, today told a judge he was eager to begin collecting information and evidence from national security agencies while part of his case is on appeal….. Klayman today told [U.S. District Judge Richard] Leon that he wanted to begin discovery as…
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests
Spencer Ackerman reports: Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday. As part of a transparency deal reached last week…