![]() The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compels Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of "all call detail records or 'telephony metadata' created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad" or "wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls". "We decline comment," said Ed McFadden, a Washington-based Verizon spokesman. The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI's request for its customers' records, or the court order itself. The agencies were also offered the opportunity to raise specific security concerns regarding the publication of the court order. The Guardian approached the National Security Agency, the White House and the Department of Justice for comment in advance of publication on Wednesday. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets. The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Under the Bush administration, officials in security agencies had disclosed to reporters the large-scale collection of call records data by the NSA, but this is the first time significant and top-secret documents have revealed the continuation of the practice on a massive scale under President Obama. The disclosure is likely to reignite longstanding debates in the US over the proper extent of the government's domestic spying powers. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered. Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19. ![]() Update: The Wall Street Journal has a full transcript of President Obama's comments.The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. President Obama also reminded that this program predates his taking office, and that he himself was skeptical but has come around to the program, stating that this is something "Americans should feel comfortable about." Well, then, how comfortable do you feel? Let us know in comments. This more or less echoes the statements made yesterday by James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence. Additionally, he clarified the internet side of the program thusly: "Internet monitoring is only for those outside United States we have to balance keeping America safe with privacy concerns." That's great for Americans, but perhaps a bit troubling for everyone else. ![]() For one thing, he clarified that "nobody is listening to your phone calls," indicating that people are looking at metadata about those calls (destinations, length, etc.) rather than the calls themselves. The allegations are incredibly troubling to say the least, and President Obama this afternoon took the time to address them - albeit briefly. If you've missed the news on PRISM and the hugely disconcerting allegations that the NSA is basically tracking everything you do on the internet and every call you make on your cellphone, we're guessing that's because you're stuck in a cave that has access to neither technology.
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