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FISA Court Reverses Order To Destroy NSA Phone Data

Posted by timothy on from the rule-of-men-and-not-of-law dept.

itwbennett writes "The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has temporarily reversed its earlier order that call records collected by the National Security Agency should be destroyed after the current five-year limit. The court modified its stand after a District Court in California on Monday ordered the government to retain phone records it collects in bulk from telecommunications carriers, as the metadata could be required as evidence in two civil lawsuits that challenge the NSA's phone records program under section 215 of the Patriot Act."

3 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Now we're keeping the data... by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... to prove we're not abusing it. Yeah, that's the ticket.

    (No, this seems like a possibly reasonable decision, for normal courtish type reasons)

  2. Re:Handy by Krishnoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    FISA claims it's to hold for court purposes, but the NSA can still search this data while they hold it.

    I would think that holding this data:

    • works against the NSA, as its surveillance utility decreases as a function of time,
    • works for the litigants, as long as it contains evidence against the defendants usable within the statute of limitations for any wrongdoing it reveals.
  3. Re:Handy by mcl630 · · Score: 4, Informative

    From TFA:

    The data preserved beyond five years cannot be accessed by NSA intelligence analysts for any purpose, and can only be accessed by technical personnel for ensuring continued compliance with the government's preservation obligations, Judge Walton wrote in his revised order.

    So no, they can't search it, at least not without running afoul of the FISA court's order (not that that has stopped them before).