Subsentio General Counsel Joel Margolis Probes Impact of NSA Metadata Collection Reform on Communication Service Providers

AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - Nov 10, 2014) - In the wake of the Ed Snowden/NSA scandal, the U.S. House of Representatives this year passed "The USA Freedom Act" -- legislation that if passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law would place significant privacy controls on the National Security Agency's "bulk domestic metadata collection program." 

What are the potential ramifications of the USA Freedom Act on both communications service providers and national security? Would the legislation increase burdens on industry by shifting the responsibility for metadata retention from the NSA to service providers? Would the NSA still be able to find terrorists or their associates in the U.S.? How should we expect terrorist communication patterns to change now that the metadata program has been leaked to the public and certain tech leaders are selling handsets with encryption-by-default privacy protection? 

At the NTCA Legal Seminar at the Omni Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas, Subsentio Executive Vice President and General Counsel Joel Margolis today provided an industry's insider look at the key issues surrounding the USA Freedom Act, for communications companies and lawmen alike.

"The USA Freedom Act tries to strike a delicate balance," said Margolis. Many congressmen are determined to scale back the NSA metadata program to reduce the privacy risks while others want to preserve the program's analytical capabilities. I'm not sure they can meet both goals."

Among the known elements of the current draft bill:

• Bulk collection of metadata would end.
• The NSA would be restricted to analyzing no more than "two hops" of metadata between the calling circle of a suspect and the circles of those in communication with the suspect.
• Every NSA metadata query would require the prior approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
  
  

The unknowns:

• Would the proposed restrictions on metadata collection inhibit national security investigations?
• Would the new measures adequately protect the security and privacy of the targeted metadata?
• How would the bill impact the data retention and disclosure policies of service providers?
  
  

About Subsentio
Subsentio, Inc. www.subsentio.com is a trusted third-party provider of lawful electronic surveillance and privacy services to U.S. and international communications service providers. Based in Centennial, CO, the company specializes in the needs of advanced communication providers.