FOXNews.com: 'ONGOING, DAILY BASIS': Report Says NSA Seizes Phone Records for Millions

FOXNews.com FOX News Channel - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

'ONGOING, DAILY BASIS': Report Says NSA Seizes Phone Records for Millions Jun 6th 2013, 10:45 File photo of the DROID(TM) 2 by Motorola.AP A British newspaper is claiming to have evidence that the National Security Agency is currently  collecting the telephone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order. The order, a copy of which was reportedly obtained by The Guardian, was reportedly granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 and is good until July 19.  It requires Verizon, one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies, 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 claims the document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens were being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether they were suspected of any wrongdoing. Neither Fox News nor the Associated Press could not authenticate the report as of early Thursday.  Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden said Wednesday told the Associated Press the company had no comment. The White House declined comment and referred questions to the NSA. The NSA had no immediate comment. Verizon Communications Inc. listed 121 million customers in its first-quarter earnings report this April -- 98.9 million wireless customers, 11.7 million residential phone lines and about 10 million commercial lines. The court order didn't specify which type of phone customers' records were being tracked. Under the terms of the order, the phone numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered, The Guardian said. If true, the broad, unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is unusual. FISA court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets. NSA warrantless wiretapping during the George W. Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks was very controversial. The FISA court order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compelled Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of "all call detail records or telephony metadata created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad" or "wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls," The Guardian said. The law on which the order explicitly relies is the "business records" provision of the USA Patriot Act. The Associated Press contributed to this report

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions