NSA to stop using bulk US phone data in November
The statement said that during the 180-day transition period required under the USA Freedom Act, “analytic access to that historical metadata… will cease on November 29, 2015.”
But it added that “for data integrity purposes,” NSA will allow technical personnel to continue to have access to the metadata for an additional three months.
Additionally, the statement said NSA must preserve bulk telephony metadata collection “until civil litigation regarding the program is resolved, or the relevant courts relieve NSA of such obligations.”
The data kept for litigation “will not be used or accessed for any other purpose, and, as soon as possible, NSA will destroy the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata upon expiration of its litigation preservation obligations.”
The USA Freedom Act sought to roll back the powers of the NSA under the Patriot Act, and notably Section 215, which authorized a vast data sweep program the agency said was aimed at tracking potential terrorists.