President Obama last week signaled that he is open to reforming the NSA's bulk collection of phone metadata, including an advisory panel recommendation that phone companies or third parties hold onto the data instead of the NSA. However, phone companies apparently aren't thrilled with the idea.
Major phone companies argue that being required to store metadata for an extended period of time for the NSA would be costly, time consuming, and risky, according to a report from The Washington Post on Saturday.
which it legally justifies under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, was revealed in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. While courts are split about the legality of the surveillance program, the NSA is currently allowed to store phone data for up to five years.
One recommendation floated by Obama's hand-picked NSA reform panel was scrapping the NSA's direct collection and storage of data and instead having the phone companies hang onto it. In this scenario, the NSA would be required to get a court order on a case-by-case basis to receive specific data from the phone firms.
The panel's report, which was released by the White House earlier in December, urges phone companies to reach an agreement with the government to store phone metadata. But if a "voluntary approach" doesn't work, the panel said legislation may be required.
Via: CNET
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