[Joga Bonito]

US 'orders Verizon to disclose millions of phone records'

Quote:

The order requires Verizon - one of the largest phone companies in the US - to disclose to the NSA the metadata of all calls it processes, both domestic and international.

Such metadata includes telephone numbers, calling card numbers, the serial numbers of phones used and the time and duration of calls. It does not include the content of a call or the callers' addresses or financial information.

The senior Obama administration official emphasised to the BBC that "on its face" the court order printed by the Guardian did not authorise US government agents to listen in on Americans' telephone conversations.

The order also contains a gagging order, requiring that "no person shall disclose to any other person that the FBI or NSA has sought or obtained tangible things under this Order".

The document "shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk - regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing," said the Guardian report's writer, Glenn Greenwald.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22793851