Hmmmm:
The National Security Agency has quietly discontinued a controversial program put in place after the September 11 terrorist attacks that collected and analyzed millions of Americans' domestic calls and texts, according to a senior Republican congressional aide.
The NSA hasn't used the system in months, and the Trump administration might not seek to renew its legal authority, Luke Murray, the national security advisor for House minority leader Kevin McCarty (R-Calif.), said in a podcast Saturday.
Under a controversial national security policy put in place by the Patriot Act in 2001, the NSA had been collecting large amounts of metadata, the digital information that accompanies electronic communications. That information included what phone numbers were on the call, when the call was placed and how long it lasted, which was then saved in a database.
Right now this seems to be nothing but word of mouth, so I'm curbing my enthusiasm. However, if it's true then this is a big step forward for privacy.
Nah, they've just moved to a 'new' program... sigh
ReplyDeleteEven if they hire a pilot to write the announcement as a skywriter, I would not believe it. No government agency gives up power. Ever. They are still going to do it, they just won't admit to it.
ReplyDeleteSadly I have to agree with Old NFO and Divemedic on this. Could go either way, replaced or still using covertly. Or *more* covertly I suppose.
ReplyDeleteBut I totally agree with Divemedic about government not giving up power. Not gonna happen...
Not without pretty extreme motivation.
Has metadata collection ever led to anything useful? Plots disrupted? Bad guys caught?
ReplyDeleteU tend to think the answer is "no", because otherwise, they'd have blown their horns about it.
But yeah, it'll just go elsewhere. Like Poindexter's "spy on everyone" program.