The Guardian published a leaked FISA court order that made Verizon give up phone information about all of their customers’ calls. The order said that Verizon must on an “ongoing, daily basis” give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems. This includes calls made entirely domestically, and is regardless of whether the callers are suspected of any crime. The document was top secret before it was illegally leaked to the Guardian. Verizon was not allowed to disclose the existence or content of the order, indicating that other phone companies might also be under such broad orders.

The order required the phone company to disclose Metadata, which includes the time and duration of the calls, telephone numbers, telephone calling card numbers, and other routing information. It also may include data that could be used to track the location and identities of the callers. The order does not include the specific content of the calls, however.

Additional Resources

The Guardian, NSA Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Verizon Customers Daily: http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order

The Guardian, Verizon Forced to Hand over Telephone Data—Full Court Ruling: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/verizon-telephone-data-court-order

The New York Times, U.S. Is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/us/us-secretly-collecting-logs-of-business-calls.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

The Washington Post, National Security Team Shuffle May Signal More Activist Stance at White House: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/national-security-team-shuffle-may-signal-more-activist-stance-at-white-house/2013/06/05/485cf4e4-cdf2-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?wprss=rss_social-nonBlogPolitics-rss&Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

The Wall Street Journal, Government Is Tracking Verizon Customers’ Records: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324299104578528181094177900.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

The Wall Street Journal, Obama Defends Phone-Record Tracking as ‘Critical Tool’: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324299104578529112289298922.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

Cornell University Law School, 50 USC Section 1861: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1861

The Washington Post, Administration, Lawmakers Defend NSA Program to Collect Phone Records: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/administration-lawmakers-defend-nsa-program-to-collect-phone-records/2013/06/06/2a56d966-ceb9-11e2-8f6b-67f40e176f03_story.html

Politico, 5 Things You Need to Know about NSA Phone Tracking: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/nsa-phone-tracking-92344.html