It has been just reported the fact that the NSA bought Americans’ Internet browsing data without a warrant. Check out the latest news on the subject below.
NSA makes the spotlight
According to documents released by Sen. Ron Wyden, NSA has been accused of purchasing the internet browsing information of Americans from commercial data brokers without warrants.
NSA director Paul Nakasone provided newly unclassified documents to Wyden, revealing that the agency buys data of Americans, including information about the websites they visit and the apps they use.
The letter, dated Dec. 11, was made public on Thursday.
Wyden, who is a privacy and internet freedom advocate and sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called on U.S. intelligence officials to end the illegal use of Americans’ personal data without their knowledge and consent.
“The U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans’ privacy are not just unethical, but illegal,” Wyden wrote to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Thursday.
The senator obstructed the appointment of Timothy Haugh, the incoming NSA Director, until the agency answered his inquiries about the collection of Americans’ internet and location data.
According to a news release, Wyden revealed that he had been advocating for almost three years to publicly disclose information demonstrating that the NSA is procuring Americans’ internet records.
“Such records can identify Americans who are seeking help from a suicide hotline or a hotline for survivors of sexual assault or domestic abuse,” he wrote in his letter to Haines.
Nakasone confirmed the purchases, saying in his letter to Wyden that the data collected “may include information associated with electronic devices being used outside – and, in certain cases, inside – the United States.”
The NSA argued that the information has significant value for national security and cybersecurity missions and is used sparingly, in defense of their purchases.
“At all stages, NSA takes steps to minimize the collection of U.S. person information, to include application of technical filters,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
