Obama: phone companies will keep bulk data, not NSA
Barack Obama outlines details of his plan to end the governments bulk collection of phone data, including procedure on how officials will now have to request data from phone companies.
Under the far-reaching proposals, America’s National Security Agency (NSA) will have to request data that they need from phone companies.
In a statement, President Barack Obama said on Thursday: “I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk.”
However he said the move would not be a barrier to tackling terrorism. Phone companies would have to provide data from their records quickly and in a usable format when requested by a court order. And in a situation of national security emergency, a court order won’t be necessary.
The overhaul of the way telephone data is collected and stored follows revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden about the extent of the NSA’s surveillance of citizens’ metadata, in the US and internationally.
The Washington administration is still deciding on how long phone companies will keep data for, but an official said there would be “some limited time period”.
President Barack Obama outlined the proposals in January, which included reining in spying on international leaders, which had caused an outcry in Germany and beyond.
He said on Thursday: “I am confident that this approach can provide our intelligence and law enforcement professionals the information they need to keep us safe while addressing the legitimate privacy concerns that have been raised.”
Any changes will need backing from Congress before they go through.
The US government began collecting so-called metadata shortly after the 11 September attacks on the United States in 2001, under part of the patriot act known as section 215.
