Legislative overhaul: Under the Obama administration's      proposal, the National Security Agency could obtain specific      records only with permission from a judge, using a new kind      of court order. Photo: AFP    
    Washington: The Obama administration is    preparing to unveil a legislative proposal for a far-reaching    overhaul of the National Security Agencys once-secret bulk    phone records program in a way that  if approved by Congress    would end the aspect that has most alarmed privacy    advocates since its existence was leaked last year, according    to senior administration officials.  
    Under the proposal, they said, the NSA would end its systematic    collection of data about Americans calling habits. The records    would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be    required to retain the data for any longer than normal. And the    NSA could obtain specific records only with permission from a    judge, using a new kind of court order.  
    In a speech in January, US President Barack Obama said he    wanted to get the NSA out of the business of collecting call    records in bulk while preserving the programs capabilities. He    acknowledged, however, that there was no easy way to do so and    had instructed Justice Department and intelligence officials to    come up with a plan by March 28, this Friday, when the current    court order authorising the program expires.  
    Advertisement  
    As part of the proposal, the administration has decided to ask    the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to renew the    program as it currently exists for at least one more 90-day    cycle, senior administration officials said. But under the plan    the administration has developed and now advocates, the    officials said, it would late undergo major changes.  
    The new surveillance court orders envisioned by the    administration would require phone companies to swiftly provide    records in a technologically compatible data format, including    making available, on a continuing basis, data about any new    calls placed or received after the order is received, the    officials said.  
    They would also allow the government to seek related records    for callers up to two calls, or "hops", removed from the number    that has come under suspicion, even if those callers are    customers of other companies.  
    The NSA now retains the phone data for five years. But the    administration considered and rejected imposing a mandate on    phone companies that they hold onto their customers calling    records for longer than the 18 months that federal regulations    already generally require a burden that the companies    had resisted and that was seen as a major obstacle to keeping    the data in their hands. A senior administration official said    that intelligence agencies had concluded that the impact of    that change would be small because older data is less    important.  
    The NSA uses the once-secret call records program    sometimes known as the 215 program, after Section 215 of    the Patriot Act to analyse links between callers in an    effort to identify hidden terrorist associates, if they exist.    It was part of the secret surveillance program that then    president George W. Bush unilaterally put in place after the    terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, outside of any legal    framework or court oversight.  
Read the rest here:
Obama to call for end to NSA's bulk data collection