The U.S. started keeping from 1992 records of international phone calls made by Americans, under a joint program of the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a newspaper report. . The secret program, which aimed to counter drug trafficking, collected logs of . The covert surveillance initiative by the American drug enforcement agency raised major concerns about the invasion of privacy for individuals across the nation.. Phone Records Surveillance, Drug Trafficking Privacy, Covert Programs. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has ruled against a U.S. government request that it be allowed to hold telephone metadata beyond the current five-year limit as it may be required as evidence in civil lawsuits that question the data collection.. The American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. Senator Rand Paul and the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles are among those who have filed lawsuits challenging the phone records program, which came to light in June last year, after former National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, revealed that the agency was collecting bulk phone records of Verizon customers in the U.S. The link for this article located at IT World is no longer available. . A hidden tribunal rejected the FBI's plea to retain email logs beyond three years, influencing surveillance strategies.. Phone Records Retention, NSA Surveillance Impact, Civil Liberties Concerns. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The Obama administration calls the NSA's practice of gathering phone records "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats," reports the AP and Reuters.. The White House is defending the decision to collect the telephone records of U.S. citizens by labeling it an anti-terrorist measure. The move by the National Security Agency to gather the phone records of Verizon customers was revealed on Wednesday by U.K. newspaper The Guardian. A court's top-secret order forced Verizon to hand over information about domestic and overseas calls "on an ongoing daily basis." The link for this article located at CNET is no longer available. . The Pentagon's support of military drone operations underscores its commitment to national security.. NSA Surveillance, Government Oversight, Data Privacy, National Security Issues. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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