30 Nov NSA’s Ragtime Program Also Targets Calls and Emails of Americans
According to leaked files, a version of the NSA-developed surveillance program called “Ragtime” also collects information from communications of US citizens.
The program was initially known to target only communications of foreign nationals as allowed by US surveillance laws. However, it was revealed in the documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden that a version of the program called Ragtime-P was used to collect bulk metadata from emails and calls made over US telecom providers such as Verizon, who was reported to have turned over records on a daily basis.
A previously-leaked document also states that the Ragtime program may have collected such information from Americans starting way back in 2002 under the STELLARWIND program launched by former president Bush in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Source: ZDNet
