The federal government's collection of bulk data from the telephone calls of virtually every American stopped at midnight Saturday, ending a raging controversy that began two and a half years ago with disclosures about the secret program by whistleblower Edward Snowden, NBC News reported.
Beginning Sunday, if the government wants to check on a specific phone number in a potential terrorism case, a request must be made to the relevant telephone company for a check of its own data. The government will no longer retain the information.
Except in emergencies, the records can be obtained only with an individual order from a special federal intelligence court.
President Obama said in January that the bulk data collection would end, and Congress in June formally banned it but allowed for a six-month transition period that ended Saturday.
For now, the National Security Agency, which ran the massive government data collection program, will retain access to the data it collected before the program ended.