Under a top secret court order, the federal government has been collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers.
The Guardian, a British newspaper, was responsible for breaking the news to the public on Wednesday when they obtained and published the highly secret court order.
The Obama Administration defended the NSA’s need to collect the phone records, but people have been deeply upset by this reveal.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., stated that the top secret court order for telephone records is a three-month renewal that’s part of an ongoing practice.
It was reported by the Guardian, that the order was granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 and is good until July 19. The court order compelled Verizon to provide the NSA with 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,” The Guardian said.
No formal comment has been issued by the White House, NSA, Department of Justice, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
NSA takes Verizon Phone Records Through Court Order was originally published on kissrichmond.com
