By Jaime Ortega.
The National Security Agency (NSA ) collects about 5,000 million strains of data on hundreds of millions of mobile phones worldwide . This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Washington Post , which explains why intelligence services and information stored in a huge database allows them to track the movements and relationships of anyone that sparks their interest .
The Daily Journalist believes this data base to be part of Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA), Total Information Awareness program (TIA) which is a massive store unit that clusters all of the worlds intercepted data by different intelligence agencies.
The original story that the ‘Post’ revealscan be found in the documents stolen by Edward Snowden . But its journalists have contrasted the details interviewing various members of the NSA , which confirmed the extent of the spying program and defended its legality.
The law does not allow the NSA to spy on Americans . But the agency accesses some data through the cables that connect mobile phones all over the world can serve to intercept U.S. citizens traveling abroad.
The U.S. intelligence can detect the whereabouts of any mobile anywhere in the world, find their movements and examine the relationships of its owner. Current tools allow the NSA to trace a phone at any time of the day and can keep track of a person anywhere thanks to GPS technology.
“The only way to hide the place where you are, is to be disconnected from the system of modern communications and live in a cave ,” said Chris Soghoian , chief technology officer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU acronym in English ) .
The NSA began collecting the locations of U.S. citizens tracing their phones as part of a pilot program in 2010 . General Keith Alexander , director of the spy agency , said in October during a Senate hearing that the plan ended in 2011 because it had no ” operational value ” .
“It may be something we need in the future for the country but not right now ” , Alexander said back then, adding that such work “is now a job of the FBI” , which controls the suspects after obtaining a court order.
The agency officials insist that their systems do not track mobile data of U.S. citizens. But admit that they gather a lot of data on a routine basis and thoroughly track the movements of any person who change phone often or use tools to encrypt their messages on phones or computers.
