Phone spying documents released by US government

Alan O'Doherty

July 31, 2013

3 documents concerning the US government’s gathering of telephonic data have been released, after being officially declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The documents include the 2009 and 2011 reports concerning the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act (which grants the US government wide reaching powers to monitor civilian communications) as well as the order for business record collection.

The data gathered does not contain personal information like names, addresses or social security numbers and cannot be accessed by the authorities unless there is reasonable suspicion that the people concerned are involved in terrorism. However, the data captured includes phone conversation which has drawn criticism from civil liberties groups who feel that this kind of intelligence gathering is unethical.

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Alan O'Doherty

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