US Senator Demands Transparency on Hemisphere Surveillance Program

The Hemisphere program, run in coordination with AT&T, allows law enforcement agencies to mine trillions of domestic phone records, raising serious concerns about privacy and legality.

• US Senator Ron Wyden has called for the public release of information about the Hemisphere surveillance program, which gives law enforcement agencies access to trillions of domestic phone records collected by AT&T since 1987.
• The Hemisphere project, also known as Data Analytical Services (DAS), allows law enforcement agencies to mine the details of Americans’ calls, including those not suspected of any crime.
• AT&T assists federal and local law enforcement in accessing and analyzing its massive database of call detail records (CDRs), with 4 billion new records being added daily.
• Law enforcement agencies have been instructed to never refer to Hemisphere in any official document, and the program has been kept largely secret from the public.
• Senator Wyden has expressed serious concerns about the legality of this surveillance program and has urged the Department of Justice to release additional information about it.

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