The monitoring programme was first made public by The Guardian in a report that said a secret court order was issued in April requiring telecommunications firm Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.
The report said the document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.
Under the order, “the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls.