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NSA Purges Hundreds of Millions of Call and Text Records (nytimes.com)

schwit1 shares a report: The National Security Agency has purged hundreds of millions of records logging phone calls and texts that it had gathered from American telecommunications companies since 2015, the agency has disclosed. It had realized that its database was contaminated with some files the agency had no authority to receive. The agency began destroying the records on May 23, it said in a statement. Officials had discovered "technical irregularities" this year in its collection from phone companies of so-called call record details, or metadata showing who called or texted whom and when, but not what they said. The agency had collected the data from a system it created under the USA Freedom Act. Congress enacted that law in 2015 to end and replace a once-secret program that had systematically collected Americans' domestic calling records in bulk. The National Security Agency uses the data to analyze social links between people in a hunt for hidden associates of known terrorism suspects.

4 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Destroying evidence by DCFusor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Against themselves and other deep-state players. That's just the biz as usual. We know where their sympathies lie by their sedition against the current government (which you don't have to approve of to see happening)...Hell, Clapper even admitted lying to congress, and Brennan...holy cow, what an obviously warped person. Things rot from the head down, most often. They're just wiping it, like with a cloth.

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    Why guess when you can know? Measure!
  2. NSA claim by bagofbeans · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, we have weasel words. Not deleting prior to 2015 CDRs. Not deleting CDRs post 2015 collected under a different permission.

    NSA Reports Data Deletion
    June 28, 2018

    Consistent with NSA's core values of respect for the law, accountability, integrity, and transparency we are making public notice that on May 23, 2018, NSA began deleting all call detail records (CDRs) acquired since 2015 under Title V of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

    The Government relies on Title V of FISA to obtain CDRs, which do not include the content of any calls. In accordance with this law, the Government obtains these CDRs, following a specific court-authorized process.

    NSA is deleting the CDRs because several months ago NSA analysts noted technical irregularities in some data received from telecommunications service providers. These irregularities also resulted in the production to NSA of some CDRs that NSA was not authorized to receive. Because it was infeasible to identify and isolate properly produced data, NSA concluded that it should not use any of the CDRs. Consequently, NSA, in consultation with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, decided that the appropriate course of action was to delete all CDRs. NSA notified the Congressional Oversight Committees, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and the Department of Justice of this decision. The Department of Justice, in turn, notified the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The root cause of the problem has since been addressed for future CDR acquisitions, and NSA has reviewed and revalidated its intelligence reporting to ensure that the reports were based on properly received CDRs.

  3. Re:Alot of records just to hide Trump's Treason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure he's just an American who is pissed off by having a complete and utter narcissist moron as a president. In the US that opinion might be as controversial as climate change but where I live everybody agrees with this assessment so it's hard for us to blame him for his off-topic posts.

  4. Re:Alot of records just to hide Trump's Treason by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1, Insightful

    FYI: I actually read Russian pretty well--no need for you to translate, although the effort's appreciated.

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    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.