from Sputnik News:
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
According to a letter sent by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) which asks for permission to share information about the program with the public, the program previously named “Hemisphere” is devoid of congressional oversight and is often used by law enforcement with a warrant or other form of judicial review.
The Hemisphere program was first revealed in 2013 after a citizen activist discovered the program through routine public records requests which he shared with media outlets. That disclosure also revealed that nearly 4 billion records are added to the database every day.
The size and extent of the database utilized by the Hemisphere program is said to far exceed even the National Security Agency’s spying program under the Patriot Act that was revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013.
Described in internal law enforcement communications as “AT&T’s Super Search Engine” the program allows law enforcement to query the records of phone calls of any call that utilizes AT&T’s nationwide infrastructure, including customers of other phone carriers.
