metadata

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Deputy AG: NSA 'Probably' Has Congress' Call Data

Lawmakers lambaste deputy attorney general James Cole

(Newser) - Just how sweeping is the NSA's data collection? So sweeping that it likely includes members of Congress and President Obama himself, Deputy Attorney General James Cole conceded yesterday. In a contentious Judiciary Committee hearing, Darrell Issa asked Cole directly if the government collected data on numbers beginning with (202)...

Here's How Obama Will Change NSA Phone Program
Obama: I Don't Want the
NSA Holding Phone Data
UPDATED
Jan 17, 2014 11:29 AM CST

Obama: I Don't Want the NSA Holding Phone Data

This morning's speech calls for private entity to hold metadata

(Newser) - President Obama today introduced a host of reforms to the NSA's surveillance programs, including ending the NSA's telephone metadata collection program "as it currently exists." In a speech today, Obama argued that the government shouldn't hold onto that phone data; he's asking Eric Holder,...

NSA Surveillance Hasn't Prevented Attacks: Study

All the foiled attacks relied on traditional methods

(Newser) - The NSA's controversial trove of phone metadata "has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism," a new analysis of 225 terrorism cases from the nonprofit New America Foundation has concluded. Most of the cases it looked at were cracked using old-fashioned investigative tools, like tip-offs...

Snowden: NSA Slam Comes as No Surprise

And an ex-colleague calls him a 'genius among geniuses'

(Newser) - Edward Snowden says he wasn't too surprised by a federal judge's condemnation today of NSA collection of phone metadata, the New York Times reports. "I acted on my belief that the NSA mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge," said Snowden in a statement...

AT&T Making Millions by Handing Data to CIA

And the CIA makes more requests than the NSA

(Newser) - Government surveillance is paying off for AT&T. The company has been sharing its trove of call records with the CIA, and it didn't exactly need to be strong-armed with a court order to do it. Instead, the company has a voluntary contract worth more than $10 million, the...

Obama Releases Documents to Support NSA Surveillance

Agency only monitors 1.6% of Internet traffic: memo

(Newser) - Right after President Obama's speech today on US surveillance, his administration released two documents in an effort to stem criticism over NSA data collection, CNN reports. One is an NSA memo that says the agency only monitors 1.6% of worldwide Internet traffic, and puts eyeballs on just .00004%...

France Spies On Its People, Too
 France Spies On Its People, Too 
Report
Jul 4, 2013 9:25 AM CDT

France Spies On Its People, Too

Newspaper alleges that DGSE keeps massive database of 'who is talking to whom'

(Newser) - Looks like America isn't the only country with a massive surveillance hobby . France is monitoring its people's phone calls, emails and social media activity as well, the Le Monde newspaper reported today, according to Reuters . France's external intelligence agency, the DGSE, intercepts signals from phones and computers...

Feds Are Keeping an Eye on Your Snail Mail, Too

USPS has two main tools for law enforcement, says New York Times

(Newser) - Creeped out by all this talk of metadata and Big Brother and the fear that your emails aren't as private as you thought? Well, at least there's good old snail mail, right? Not so much, reports the New York Times . It looks at two programs the US Postal...

More Revelations: Feds Collected Bulk Email Data

Another 'Guardian' story hits, reveals more metadata collection

(Newser) - The revelations about the NSA's surveillance operations just keep coming. The Guardian has yet another piece revealing that the government spent a decade collecting bulk email data, in much the same way it collected bulk cellphone data . As with the cellphone data, the government collected metadata, meaning information on...

Data Mining Might Have Stopped 9/11: FBI Chief

Robert Mueller takes his turn on Capitol Hill

(Newser) - Various security officials have made the case that the government's phone and Internet surveillance is necessary to keep the country safe, but FBI chief Robert Mueller brought out the big guns during testimony on Capitol Hill today. Had this kind of data mining been in place 13 years ago,...

ACLU Sues White House Over Phone 'Dragnet'

Group says its constitutional rights have been violated

(Newser) - The ACLU usually sues on behalf of others, but this time it's going to court on behalf of itself. The civil-liberties group has sued the federal government over the "dragnet" it uses to collect information about phone calls , reports Talking Points Memo . Because the ACLU is itself a...

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