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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.

45 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Of course... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sure. The NSA is purging data- just like Kim is purging North Korea's nuclear program. Both are very believable.

    I'm sure the NSA is just making a show of deleting data whilst backing it up in another database with more stringent security needed to get access to.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yeah, 17 indictments and 5 guilty pleas but it's a witch hunt. All in about a year less time than the Benghazi investigation which netted zero indictments let alone any pleas. It's really falling apart.

    2. Re:Of course... by gtall · · Score: 1

      So, basically you are talking out of your ass and have no information on the matter.

    3. Re:Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How many of those calls have info about HRC, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Rosenstein etc.? I believe they'll delete data to protect them.

    4. Re:Of course... by tkotz · · Score: 1

      That would be a pretty big strike against a future plausible deniability defense against political action. The only way the NSA has been able to stay as free of impact as they have is by claiming they didn't think what they were doing was illegal. If they start keeping two sets of books that becomes a lot harder to swallow.

    5. Re:Of course... by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 1

      None about Russian collusion to affect the election....

      You can see the hypocrisy dripping off your post...

      --
      5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
    6. Re:Of course... by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Yeah, 17 indictments and 5 guilty pleas but it's a witch hunt. All in about a year less time than the Benghazi investigation which netted zero indictments let alone any pleas. It's really falling apart.

      and none of them about Russia or Collusion, which isn't even a crime. Think it is? Show me. Show me in the law where it's illegal. Good luck with that.
      Read the IG report. It is a witch hunt. Mueller is known for prosecutorial misconduct. Bring in some cases fake charges to see if he can get what he wants. There's nothing to get so he continues to come up dry. In the Manifort case? That's a 2004 rug deal. Yea, a rug deal. Let's look into Democrats like this, see what happens.

      As for the Benghazi investigation, same deep state that is doing the BS with Trump kept her safe. Read the report, they decided they weren't going to charge her before they even saw any of the evidence. With Trump they're making crap up, like the fake dossier that Hillary's campaign paid for and Republicans had nothing to do with. Saying they did was another big lie.

      Bottom line is if you or I did what she did with the secret docs, we'd be in jail right now. No doubt about it. So should she.

    7. Re:Of course... by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

      Frankly, if I got conflicting stories from Emperor Kim and the NSA, equally plausible, and one (and only one) of them could be true, I'm not sure which I'd believe. Probably the one from His Rotund Highness.

      --
      There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
  2. "Purges" just like facebook "deletes" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    They may well be removing these records from their usual online system, but they're not going to go back and destroy tapes. And I'll bet a dollar that they're not taking these records offline, just taking them out of the system most likely to be audited.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Just like smallpox by nagora · · Score: 1

    was eliminated by moving it into a different fridge when the inspectors called.

    --
    "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
  4. 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.

    --
    Why guess when you can know? Measure!
    1. Re:Destroying evidence by houghi · · Score: 3, Informative

      Accountability is an important word. Without it, most of what happens is although not legal, allowed.

      If I tell a toddler not to take a cookie and it does and then I do nothing, just repeat that he is not allowed to take another one, what will be the result?
      The resulkt is that I am frustrated and that is about it.

      So they can easily say "Yeah, we did something illegal ..." Followed by a ".. and what are yopu going to do about it?" Till now nothing has been done. Not really.

      Compared to the toddler and his cookies, what we have done is punnish the dog for eating some crumbs that would not be there if no cookies would have been stolen.

      I honestly can not blame them. Why should they do things correctly? This way works for them without any serious downside. And voting them away does not help as both parties don't do anything as we have seen in the last 20 and more years.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    2. Re:Destroying evidence by DCFusor · · Score: 1

      I'd mod you up if I hadn't commented. Yep...They "have kids to feed", fear, partisanship, war help with that, and it's obvous they've succumbed to temptation. No party is going to stop them as there's plenty dirt to go around and who'd have that if not these very people - who we PAY to lie for a living. So....I don't see a good way to do much about it, other than try and get people awake...sooner or later it'll be too embarrassing to admit you work for one of these outfits who profit from deception, blackmail, murder.
      Oh, that's right - we stopped allowing public schools to teach any version of right and wrong or the idea of shame....and this is the result.

      --
      Why guess when you can know? Measure!
    3. Re:Destroying evidence by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      >We know where their sympathies lie by their sedition against the current government

      The NSA is practicing sedition? If they were, it's likely they'd be releasing some phone calls instead of deleting old emails.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
    4. Re:Destroying evidence by DCFusor · · Score: 1

      They leak what they want to via plausibly deniable sources, just like always - and you don't have to look hard to find them at all. Gosh, was everyone here born last week? This is not a partisan thing at all, it's an un-elected and difficult to discipline bureaucracy that is out of control, and has been for many decades.n Which now has the power to gather dirt on the dirtiest people on earth - politicians of all stripes higher than dog-catcher - who are also the main people who even care, because, unlike a gov worker, they have to get elected now and then. To many observers, the main reason they're throwing a fit now is because someone got in they didn't vet beforehand, the odds being so low in their eyes. He happens to be a clown, but more importantly to them, one they don't easily control. I mean, clearly there's dirt to go around on everyone in office, and there's also a lust by bureaucrats to keep and increase their power. Else how did the government (a jobs program that keeps the enemies closer?) get so big, while creating more troubles than it solves? Why does every elected federal official - even obvious morons, retire as at least a multimillionaire on what is crap pay for DC (my home town - it's not a cheap place to live). I'm deliberately not mentioning some insanely wealthy people whose politics I don't agree with who got that way while in power - and over relatively poor districts to boot. They self-identify without my help. And they don't all wear the same color tie, this isn't about that false dichotomy sham. Why are Snowden and Assange persona non grata in the US? Even the government isn't accusing them of making it all up....Assange offered to prove the party line about Russian hacking false - and all negotiations shut down instantly - Why did Ike warn us about an MIC that would wind up in power and cause endless wars killing innocent people wherever we could get away with it? Did it come true? Why is every attempt to make peace undermined? Who loses with peace? The MIC and self serving fear and lie mongers some call the deep state. Damn, it's obvious.

      --
      Why guess when you can know? Measure!
  5. Re:Alot of records just to hide Trump's Treason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    More like covering the Obama administration's illegal surveillance of the Trump campaign, and further hide the FBI/CIA collusion with foreign actors to attempt a soft coup of Trump's presidency.

    Nah, this is a grand scheme to cover up the fact that Russian officials have been passing Trumps pee tape around as an email attachment for years.

  6. Re:Alot of records just to hide Trump's Treason by jamesborr · · Score: 2

    Not sure what you are suggesting here -- that the security agencies of the U.S. should secretly and illegally maintain metadata on millions and millions of American citizens on the off chance that these same agencies can cull through this data to target their "enemies"? This just gets to the related problem that there are so many laws currently on the books and since ignorance of the laws is no excuse, that almost anyone can be jailed for breaking one or more of them based on prosecutorial discretion...

  7. Nice Spin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Nice spin on this story. What they actually did was destroy evidence of their criminal wiretapping enterprise.

    These people belong in jail.

  8. 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.

    1. Re:NSA claim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Consistent with NSA's core values of respect for the law, accountability, integrity, and transparency...

      Yeah I stopped reading there. Everything that follows can be assumed to be false or at least intentionally misleading.

    2. Re:NSA claim by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      8 hops of domestic and global collection clogged the computers. So it was back to an authorized 7 hops of collect it all.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  9. 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.

  10. NOOOOOO! by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well... there go all my backups!

    1. Re:NOOOOOO! by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Those are safe. They needed more disk for Windows 10 and deleting all that stuff there was just enough space.

  11. Fake 'Virtue Signalling' from a government agency by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    NSA says:
    "Oh noes, the cattle (er, we mean citizens) have had their privacy rights (LOL!) brought to their attention (thanks, Zuckerberg!) and since we've had the market cornered on violating people's privacy for decades, we're in their crosshairs now, what ever shall we do!?"

    "..never fear! We'll throw them a bone and (claim we) delete a bunch of (old, useless) texts and emails. Just to make it sound more legit, we'll claim we never had the right to have some of them in the first place. The cattle (*cough* sorry, 'Citizens') are gullible and will believe we're on the up-and-up and are taking responsibility for our misdeeds (LOL)."

    Good game, NSA, good game.. but the guillotine is waiting for you; you're on The List. It's just a matter of time.

  12. Lock Him Up...with Trump's Campaign Manager! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Donald Trump's campaign manager is sitting in prison right now, and their are many guilty pleas from his co-conspirators.

    So I guess your post is nothing more than bullshit designed to defend the worst traitors in history.

    1. Re:Lock Him Up...with Trump's Campaign Manager! by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      I want to know how the "USA Freedom Act" is what allows them to record everybody's phone calls.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      No sig today...
  13. 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.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  14. Re:Samantha Power *MOST* upset by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

    All those hits are for Fox News, the Washington Examiner, ACLJ, CNS, ... all the usual outlets for disinformation.

    Get back to us when there's an actual story reported in actual news media.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  15. Lock Him Up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    So you are claiming that a congressional committee stacked with traitors is more credible than a guilty plea by the 'unregistered foreign agent' himself...

    Donald Trump's Russia connected campaign manager is in prison right now, and the Republican treason team you are so fond of can't do anything about it.

      Treason isn't just illegal. It's wrong.

    Lock him up!

    1. Re:Lock Him Up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And what is he in prison for? Absolutely NOTHING related to the campaign. Mueller is trying to extort him into giving any bogus information he can use. This is nothing new to Mueller, considering his team had no problem convincing the contractor in the Ted Stephens case to commit perjury to get a a conviction against Stephens. Mueller is a low-life slime with a track record of illegal behavior and being overturned by the courts. Read Licensed to Lie from 2014 to see the truth about the man you're holding up as the white hat. Considering it was written back in 2014 even you can't claim it is fake reporting from a Trump supporter.

    2. Re:Lock Him Up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Except that the Russian oligarchs Manafort was caught committing crimes for are the same ones who interfered in the US election to help Donald Trump.

      Let's connect some very simple dots.

      Manafort worked for Ukraine's Russian puppet president and for the Russian government itself.

      Manafort changed the Republican platform to go against our ally Ukraine and accept Russia's annexation of Crimea. Moscow Donald has dutifully towed this line ever since, despite misdirection implying otherwise.

      Trump now says we should approve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, as Vladimir Putin has instructed.

      Manafort's Ukrainian President client was a Russian puppet.

      Donald Trump is a Russian Puppet.

      Lock Him Up!

  16. Re:Caught Trump Committin Treason - We Defend Amer by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    It's not as as clear-cut as that.

    While it seems that all those who've put party before country have been Republicans, it's also true that not all those who put country before party are Democrats.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  17. Trust by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 2

    Anyone's trust in the NSA should be extremely well informed and strictly circumscribed. However, this is the first indication that NSA has any sense of duty to the American people, or respect for the law, so I'm not going to shit on them for it. The larger failure is Congress' inability to defend the rights of American citizens.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    1. Re:Trust by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      It's not like NSA is staffed by a bunch of sadistic bastards, evil robots, or maniacal traitors. They aren't evil on an individual level, simply because most people aren't evil. Psychopathy is rare, even if it is more prevalent in D.C. For the most part I'm sure they love their country.

      Like you suggest, NSA did lie. Clapper lied to Congress with a straight face, on national TV. And perhaps the more important part is that they were caught lying, and this was widely publicized. It's at least possible that some unhappiness over this situation came home to roost. It's almost scary to think that Congress holds almost all the real power in this country, but they do at least theoretically have the power to bring NSA to heel when they want to. How effective their oversight is in practice? Probably beyond my pay grade.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  18. Too late by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    We already made backups elsewhere.

    Nice try covering up for Russia.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  19. Needs translation by hdyoung · · Score: 1

    Translation: "We looked at all this info carefully, and we determined that it has no value to the intelligence community, so we're deleting it".
    Secondary translation: "We know that this collection program is going to leak out eventually, so we're getting ahead of the story by announcing it".

    The NSA is a spy agency. Spy agencies will sometimes operate within the clear bounds of the law, sometimes they dwell in the very large grey area that sits between full legality and full criminality, and sometimes they head out into criminal territory. A good spy agency tries to remain fully lawful whenever possible and dips into the grey area only when necessary. A bad spy agency doesn't even acknowledge the boundaries and is basically just another criminal organization.

    As far as spy agencies goes, the NSA is one of the good ones. They try to stay legal whenever possible, while still doing their job. I support the mission of the NSA. Super important for American security. That being said, it'll certainly bend the rules and ask for forgiveness only if someone notices.

  20. Journalism by Press Release? by K.+S.+Van+Horn · · Score: 1

    Lacking any third-party verification, that headline should be "Says They Have Purged" instead of "Purges". Simply stating as fact whatever claim the gov't makes, without any attempt at verification, is poor journalism.

  21. MISDIRECTION. Be not DISTRACTED. by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 2

    June 25 2018: The Intercept draws attention to buildings they allege contain NSA splitter-taps taps on communications networks, and especial cooperation by AT&T.
    June 28 2018: NSA jumps the shark releasing 'limited hang out' claiming they oopsied 685 million 'records' and are deleting them like good Boy Scouts.

    The records are supposed to gather attention away from the buildings and the idea of full intercept of gathering of communications. It's a shell game, and you're supposed to think "they were naughty but are sorry and they took care of it." Watch now as the 685 million records eclipse the prior story and the news networks start talking about 'records' and not 'taps'. Mission accomplished.

    Senators do this too. Ask them a question about buildings or taps, or the infrastructure for continuous warrantless surveillance, and they'll pretend you asked them about that handy voluntary call record sharing program. Press firmly and they'll do it again. Press harder and they move on to the next question.

    More,
    >Reddit post on 5EYES and NSA splitters
    > Things have got to change, But first, you gotta get mad!
    > NSA and the Desolation of Smaug
    > I am Sam. Uncle Sam I am.
    > I really hated Men In Black
    > Am I the first to suggest... BLACKMAIL??
    > Sherlock Holmes: training wheels for NSA surveillance
    > Stick a fork in the Republic, it's done. HR4681/309 (failed submission)
    > The backbone, then (1980s) and now
    > Whatever happened to the 'old' NSA? Directive 18?
    > Last Wish: The Pact (dystopian fiction)

    --
    <blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
  22. Hanlon's razor by gatfirls · · Score: 1

    That is all. The NSA isn't what you see in movies. It's just a bunch of drones doing "their jobs".

    Snowden should tell you all you ever needed to know about how ultra awesome the CIA/NSA are. The only thing that makes them look competent is that people are terrified to cross them.

  23. actual news media by bagofbeans · · Score: 1

    Which are?

  24. Re:Democrats are segragationists by tkotz · · Score: 1

    Sometimes, I like to pretend that all the ACs on slashdot are foreign agents trying to undermine peoples faith in America in particular and western democracy in general.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.

  25. Disk Space Low by muphin · · Score: 1

    im sure they were going over how much "crap" they have and remove it for more storage than spending $100 million on more drives.

    --
    It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
  26. MOD PARENT UP by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2

    What they actually did was destroy evidence of their criminal wiretapping enterprise.

    I do believe you hit the nail on the head. The jig is up and they're trying to CYA.

    I'd mod you up myself but I'm out of mod points just now,

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  27. $0.50 army by Reverend+Green · · Score: 2

    Whoa - the fifty cent armies are out in force for this one! 100+ idiotic posts arguing back & forth about TRUMP!!!!!11!!!! All posted by the same two astroturfers, using augmented trolling software to circumvent Slashdot's antispam features.

    Nice topic dilution, gentlemen - well done!
    https://cryptome.org/2012/07/g...

    BTW: does anyone know the name of the software tool(s) used by these astroturfers?