NSA’s ‘Bulk’ Phone Data Collection Authority Just Expired — Controversial Program Will Now Shift To More ‘Focused And Targeted’ Approach

NSA won’t collect bulk phone data from today. Instead, the security agency will shift to a more “focused and targeted” approach. Though the data collection isn’t strictly ending, its scope is now significantly limited with an additional legal caveat.

The National Security Agency (NSA) is terminating its bulk collection of cell phone metadata from Sunday. However, the keyword here is “bulk.” The NSA will still be allowed to collect data, but first the agency will have to fulfill a legal requirement and it won’t be en masse collection, as well. Though the U.S. intelligence community will cease its bulk collection of telephone metadata, it can still collect data on individuals, and even to do that, the agency will have to secure a warrant or a court order. Previously, the agency collected data on millions of American citizens without needing any prior approval or permission. The statement, dated November 28, 2015, says as follows.

“Final temporary reauthorization of the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata data program in the US expires.”

What this essentially means is from Sunday, the NSA will not be allowed to hold bulk phone data or metadata of millions of American citizens.

Started after 9/11 under the then-President of the United States George W. Bush, NSA’s controversial bulk phone metadata collection remained a highly classified secret, until whistleblower Snowden leaked documents that proved such programs exists. The agency maintains that it did not collect actual conversations, just metadata, which includes when the calls happened, what numbers were called and how long each of the call lasted, reported WGN TV.

While it’s not immediately clear what the agency managed to learn by such data, after Snowden leaked information about many such programs, there was a huge public outcry, which the current President listened and promised to bring in a reform that would eventually restrict the NSA from collecting such bulk phone data. Privacy advocates argued that having unlimited access to such huge volumes of data on every individual citizen amounted to “mass surveillance” and clearly constituted an “invasion of privacy.” Campaigners reasoned that NSA could easily build a detailed profile of person based on the metadata collected.

In June this year, President Obama signed a reform measure that took away the National Security Agency’s authority to collect in bulk the phone records of millions of Americans, reported KCCI. The newly revised USA Freedom Act now mandates the government to obtain a specifically targeted warrant or court order before they are allowed to collect phone metadata from telecommunications companies.

Moreover, the metadata won’t be in the custody of the NSA. Instead, the telecommunication companies will retain the metadata and if the NSA needs it, it will have to approach the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC or FISA Court), reported the Guardian.

When the existence of the bulk phone data collection practice surfaced, supporters maintained that the program could help locate suspected terrorists and their activities.

Interestingly though, despite the recent terrorist attacks on foreign soil and threats by ISIS, Barack Obama went ahead and signed the reform. The reasoning might have stemmed from the fact that privacy and civil liberties review body set up by Barack Obama himself, found no evidence that the bulk phone data proved critical in a single case of suspected terrorist activity. The report reads as follows.

“We have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the telephone records program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation.”

Though NSA has lost the right to collect bulk phone data, it has requested limited access to historical metadata until February 29, 2016. The FISA court is reportedly deliberating on the same.

Do you think the Obama administration took the right steps in stopping the NSA from collecting bulk phone data?

[Photo by Ulrich Baumgarten, Paul J. Richards/Getty Images]