NSA warrantless bulk phone metadata spying continues unabated

The NSA's bulk phone metadata spying program was renewed for another 90 days, the fourth time the warrantless snooping has been reauthorized following President Barack Obama promising reform last January, the government said Monday.

That means the nation's telecoms will continue forwarding a database to the government that includes the phone numbers of all calls, the international mobile subscriber identity number of mobile callers, the calling card numbers used in calls, and the time and duration of those calls to and from the United States. Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the program 18 months ago, but the numerous calls for reform since have fallen on deaf ears.

The renewal comes the same day that the government defended the program's constitutionality before a federal appeals court. The case before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is one of three lawsuits challenging the program. Ultimately, the issue could reach the Supreme Court, perhaps as early as next year. Also, legislation the government says authorizes the intelligence program expires in June.

In January, Obama slightly reined in the bulk telephone metadata program. He ordered the nation’s spies to get approval from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to search the metadata database under a "reasonable articulable standard" that a target is associated with terrorism. (A probable-cause standard continues to be lacking, however.) Obama also dramatically reduced the number of associated calling records connected to the original target that the NSA may analyze—from three hops to two. Future presidential administrations, however, are not bound by Obama's changes.

Still, Obama punted any other reform measures to Congress. The Senate last month defeated a measure that, among other things, would have stripped the government of its unfettered access to the metadata database and would have kept the metadata in the hands of the telcos.

"The Administration welcomes the opportunity to work with the new Congress to implement the changes the President has called for. Given that legislation has not yet been enacted, and given the importance of maintaining the capabilities of the telephony metadata program, the government has sought a 90-day reauthorization of the existing program, as modified by the changes the President directed in January," the government said Monday when announcing that the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court approved the snooping for another 90 days. The order expires February 27.

Sen. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) urged Obama to let the program die instead of getting it reauthorized.

"The President can end the NSA’s dragnet collection of Americans’ phone records once and for all by not seeking reauthorization of this program by the FISA Court, and once again, I urge him to do just that," Leahy said. "Doing so would not be a substitute for comprehensive surveillance reform legislation—but it would be an important first step."

The FISA Court has now renewed bulk telephone metadata spying program four times following Obama's reform speech—in March, June, September, and December.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/nsa-warrantless-bulk-phone-metadata-spying-continues-unabated/