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Government Surveillance

NSA Bulk Collection: More Than Just Phone Records

By now, most everyone is aware of the NSA’s bulk phone records collection program, in which the agency collects the call records of tens of millions of Americans with no connection to terrorism or a crime. However, the government also claims authority to collect other data in bulk under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, including financial data, location information, and Internet activity – basically, any business records that show relationships between people.

In this video, CDT’s Harley Geiger explains this important point, which has been missing from much of the public debate about NSA surveillance: Bulk collection is about much more than just phone records.