Phone-Tracking Program Defended in US Government Letter

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on a US intelligence program that collects, tracks and stores telephone-record megadata, The US defended the program in a letter to a federal court by pointing out the program – was “approved” and “rigorously overseen” by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government – has been successful in preventing terrorist attacks. “The ACLU had asked a judge to find the program unconstitutional, saying the government's program exceeds the congressional authority provided by the Patriot Act,” reports Larry Neumeister of the Associated Press. The letter details many program limits on the data collected and review process, with prohibitions on listening to or recording calls. The public often accepts that transparency and security are sacrificed for security purposes. Yet broad exposure of the program’s secret methods by an individual contract employee for the US National Security Agency has raised concerns over whether other aspects of the program could be ripe for abuse. – YaleGlobal