US to purge intel on foreigners after five years

[webfact]

US to purge intel on foreigners after five years

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US spy agencies will expunge intelligence on foreigners gleaned from phone or email intercepts after five years, unless it has security value, according to a policy review released Tuesday.

Two years after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed a vast overseas digital dragnet that snared, among others, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the US government said it is changing how it handles the trove of intel.

"We have imposed new limitations on the retention of personal information about non-US persons," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced.

"Now intelligence community elements must delete non-US person information collected through SIGINT five years after collection," it added, referring to signals intelligence, or the gathering of information from signals and other communication.

The review was requested by President Barack Obama, who hosts Merkel next week at the White House.

Obama was reportedly unaware that the leaders of allied nations were being bugged, and ordered the practice to stop.

The shift brings retention of foreigners’ data into line with existing rules for US citizens, but will likely be seen as not going far enough by privacy advocates.

"Our signals intelligence activities must take into account that all persons have legitimate privacy interests," said Obama homeland security and counterterrorism advisor Lisa Monaco.

"At the same time, we must ensure that our intelligence community has the resources and authorities necessary for the United States to advance its national security and foreign policy interests."

Civil liberties activists said the new guidelines don’t go far enough, failing to change the practice of bulk collection of telephone records, among other things.

Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University said the reforms still leave loopholes for surveillance.

"The reforms highlighted in this report are positive steps as far as they go, but the Snowden disclosures revealed that we need a fundamental course correction," Goitein said.

"As long as the government is collecting Americans’ telephone records, listening to their phone calls, and reading their e-mails without any suspicion of wrongdoing, the gulf between our constitutional values and the government’s surveillance practices remains."

Legal researcher Megan Graham, who writes for the Just Security blog, said the plan leaves "large exceptions that appear to allow the government to escape the restrictions with relative ease."

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/US-to-purge-intel-on-foreigners-after-five-years-30253359.html


-- The Nation 2015-02-04

[ABCer]

Americans are lucky people - they have Obama!

Bugger Merkel sensitivity... keep the information until you may need it.

And in today's world you never know when you might need it.

Ah, Obama! Bombing ISIL, IS and ISIS and proclaiming "There are Good Muslims"!

Ah, USA! Bombing Kosovo and protesting Crimea!

Ah, Europe! Moving NATO bases East and blaming Russkies for expansionist policies!

Ah, the West! Letting and abetting Islam onslaught and ... bombing Islamists terrorists!

Sounds like a vicious circle to me...

If any country will "purge intel" on foreign people after 5 years how will they know where to re-immigrate their todays new citizens?

I know! Evrika! A new paragraph in Passport: Your Previous Nationality.

[humqdpf]

Only since Snowden do we realise the level of snooping that the USA agencies are engaged in throughout the world.

Leaving aside the civil liberties issues for the moment, has anyone taken on board the fact that the vastness of the data collected is going to prevent any real use as a source of intelligence. Intelligence is found in a number of ways, through following leads, gathering evidence, focusing resources on likely sources of information, keeping data is well-designed databases which are not jambes full of irrelevant data and serendipity, among others.

I think that the jihadists and their supporters are delighted with this broad brush approach as they can hide in plain sight alongside all the other innocent people whose private lives are snooped on. They should stop wasting their time on snooping on everyone and focus on at least the potential bad guys!

[mania]

555 is this suppose to be some kind of joke?

"US spy agencies will expunge intelligence on foreigners gleaned from phone or email intercepts after five years"

That is like saying they will throw away the empty cup after drinking the beer.

5 Years...pffft

[schweizer]

Would that include the backups that are often kept by government agencies for at least 15 years depending on the digital media storage method (some degrade faster than others) I doubt it very much, as it would involve a process of eliminating data from backups that no company or government agency has ever tried to do to my knowledge as the cost would be prohibitive

[mania]

Would that include the backups that are often kept by government agencies for at least 15 years depending on the digital media storage method (some degrade faster than others) I doubt it very much, as it would involve a process of eliminating data from backups that no company or government agency has ever tried to do to my knowledge as the cost would be prohibitive

Yes but this is the thinking they would like to divert you to...........

I mean the whole thing is ludicrous

A peeping Tom is caught going thru your mail or eavesdropping your phone calls.....

maybe looking in your bedroom window at you wife.....After being caught red handed he proclaims.....

Ok...ok...I will stop after 5 years of snooping & destroy my videos, copies of your bank transcripts,emails,phone calls etc. etc etc

[Robby nz]

Nice of them, after 5 years they will throw away any information they have obtained illegally on any foreigner by tapping their phones, E mail or whatever, unless of course they think they have an excuse to keep it.

[JetsetBkk]

There's nothing wrong with keeping this data forever.

It's the morons who use it that are the problem.

[IAMHERE]

Sure, why wouldn't I believe them. I bet they keep the info on USA citizens forever.

[ravip]

The same old crap. Blaming others while doing worse atrocities.

When will it boomerang?

[Ulic]

Nobody actually believes they will delete the data. They have already vigorously denied having the data (under oath).

As for Obama ordering the stop of bugging of allied leaders, more likely he ordered them to stop being caught as in

low level analysts should not have access to the information that allied leaders are being bugged.

[hawker9000]

Only since Snowden do we realise the level of snooping that the USA agencies are engaged in throughout the world.

Leaving aside the civil liberties issues for the moment, has anyone taken on board the fact that the vastness of the data collected is going to prevent any real use as a source of intelligence. Intelligence is found in a number of ways, through following leads, gathering evidence, focusing resources on likely sources of information, keeping data is well-designed databases which are not jambes full of irrelevant data and serendipity, among others.

I think that the jihadists and their supporters are delighted with this broad brush approach as they can hide in plain sight alongside all the other innocent people whose private lives are snooped on. They should stop wasting their time on snooping on everyone and focus on at least the potential bad guys!

I'm afraid your case of wishful thinking might be terminal. You vastly underestimate the power of computers, not to mention professional database analysts, to sift through all that data, as vast and mostly irrelevant to any legitimate interest as it may be. All it takes is CPU cycles, and technology makes more of those available every day, limited only by the luddites in government bureaucracy assigned to manage the undertaking. The problem, in fact, is that it may be just as easily sifted through for NO legitimate reason!