FISA Court Rules That The U.S. Government Cannot Keep Phone Records More Than Five Years

Court Blocks Government's Request To Keep NSA Phone Records Longer Than Five Years -- The Verge

The court in charge of overseeing NSA surveillance has nixed a plan to keep American phone records in government databases for longer than five years. In an opinion published today, Judge Reggie Walton said that privacy protection laws overrode the government's argument that it needed to retain evidence for EFF and ACLU lawsuits, denying a request that the Department of Justice made in February. Such a move "would further infringe on the privacy interests of United States persons whose telephone records were acquired in vast numbers and retained by the government," said Walton. "The government seeks to retain these records, not for national security reasons, but because some of them may be relevant in civil litigation in which the destruction of those very same records is being requested."

Read more ....

More News On The FISA Court Ruling That Bars The U.S. Government From Keeping Phone Records More Than Five Years

Judge rejects Justice request on phone records -- Washington Post
NSA Spy Data Can’t Be Held Indefinitely for Suits, Judge Rules -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Government can't hold NSA surveillance data longer -- CNN
In rare loss, FISA court rejects Justice Dept request to retain data -- RT
Court rules NSA can't keep phone snoop data for more than 5 years -- ANI News
Court Rejects NSA Bid to Hold Phone Data Longer -- National Journal

My Comment: I can only hope that the government respects this court ruling .... and we do not learn ten years from now that someone forgot to delete the data.