Report: Gov't scooping up Verizon phone records

[Jake]

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/2341/rouensurveillancefreder.jpg

A court document published today by The Guardian reveals the NSA is currently collecting call records in bulk from Verizon. The request, granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25th, extends until July 19th and mandates Verizon produce all call detail records on a daily basis to the NSA. The data collected includes the numbers of both parties to a call, how long it lasted, location data, IMEI / IMSI numbers, but not the content of the call or identifying information about the customer. As the report indicates, security officials had revealed bulk collection of call records previously, but until now there has been no indication of it happening under the Obama administration. In 2006 Verizon Wireless was one of the few to state it had not turned over call records to the NSA, but that appears to have changed. Among the many things that are still unknown however, is whether this order is a one time event or one in a series of such requests collecting vast amounts of data on unsuspecting citizens, and whether other communications providers have received orders to do the same.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/05/leaked-court-documents-reveal-nsa-collecting-daily-call-logs-fro/

[Rob]

WASHINGTON -- Britain's Guardian newspaper says the National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a secret court order.

The newspaper said Wednesday the order was issued in April and was good until July 19. The newspaper said the order requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries.

The newspaper said the document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The White House, NSA and Verizon all declined to comment.

The AP could not authenticate the classified documents.

The Associated Press