The number of times the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance...

The number of times the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorized the gathering of telephone numbers from 2000 to 2013, including Internet and phone metadata, was at its highest from the first half of 2004 to the same period in 2008, said the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Monday (http://bit.ly/1i4zo8D). EPIC obtained the information (http://bit.ly/1crr0C5) through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department, EPIC said. “The reports reveal a dramatic increase in the use of these [surveillance gathering] techniques in 2004 and then a significant reduction in 2008, likely the consequence of a shift to other investigative techniques,” it said. “The documents show that nearly all applications to the Surveillance Court were approved without modifications,” it said.