The House has passed legislation that would end the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ calling data and let phone companies hold the records instead.
As a Senate panel found last week, that proposal could run into trouble. Forcing the companies to hold the records is problematic, according to another witness, Harley Geiger of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
“A data-retention mandate would be an enormous burden, both in terms of technological infrastructure, particularly for small companies and startups, but it would also result in loss of user trust and potential problems with privacy and data breach,” Geiger said. “We urge you not to go down the road of a data-retention mandate.”