Obama to propose curbs on NSA's bulk collection of phone, web data
26 Mar 2014
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The Obama administration proposes to curtail mass collection of phone and e-mail data by the National Security Administration (NSA) through fresh legislation that would significantly curtail the practice, but lower the legal standards for the collection of such information.
The bill, titled the `End Bulk Collection Act of 2014', which is currently being circulated among legislators, would prevent the government from acquiring "records of any electronic communication without the use of specific identifiers or selection terms," report quoting Capitol Hill sources said.
The Obama administration will introduce a new legislation plan in the next few days, under which the National Security Agency would end the bulk collection of telephone records, and instead seek a court order to search records held by the telephone companies.
Alternatively, the House Intelligence Committee also plans to introduce a separate proposal that would not necessarily require a judge's prior approval to access phone or email data.
The measure would ban the bulk hauling of phone, email and internet records by the government and instead, it would outsource the database queries to phone firms, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Under both proposals, telecommunications firms would not be required to keep such records any longer than the current 18-month maximum, against the five years they are currently being held by the NSA.
The move, which represents a significant shift in the policy of secret mass collection practices followed by the US administration for the past 13 years, follow its expose by whistleblower Edward Snowden in The Guardian some 10 months ago.
The expose resulted in shift in position by two of the most ardent defenders of bulk data collection, the committee's Republican chairman Michael Rogers of Michigan and Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland.
The New York Times reported on Monday night that the Obama administration is ready to unveil proposed legislation that would keep data on Americans' phone calling habits with their phone companies.
And the companies wouldn't have to store the information for any longer than they normally would, The Times reported.
The proposed bill, it said, is aimed at restoring public trust, and would add "checks and balances" to the phone-data programme.
The bill, titled the `End Bulk Collection Act of 2014', which is currently being circulated among legislators, would prevent the government from acquiring "records of any electronic communication without the use of specific identifiers or selection terms," report quoting Capitol Hill sources said.
The Obama administration will introduce a new legislation plan in the next few days, under which the National Security Agency would end the bulk collection of telephone records, and instead seek a court order to search records held by the telephone companies.
Alternatively, the House Intelligence Committee also plans to introduce a separate proposal that would not necessarily require a judge's prior approval to access phone or email data.
The measure would ban the bulk hauling of phone, email and internet records by the government and instead, it would outsource the database queries to phone firms, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Under both proposals, telecommunications firms would not be required to keep such records any longer than the current 18-month maximum, against the five years they are currently being held by the NSA.
The move, which represents a significant shift in the policy of secret mass collection practices followed by the US administration for the past 13 years, follow its expose by whistleblower Edward Snowden in The Guardian some 10 months ago.
The expose resulted in shift in position by two of the most ardent defenders of bulk data collection, the committee's Republican chairman Michael Rogers of Michigan and Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland.
The New York Times reported on Monday night that the Obama administration is ready to unveil proposed legislation that would keep data on Americans' phone calling habits with their phone companies.
And the companies wouldn't have to store the information for any longer than they normally would, The Times reported.
The proposed bill, it said, is aimed at restoring public trust, and would add "checks and balances" to the phone-data programme.
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