US Secret court renews NSA power to 'snoop-on' telephone data

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) has reportedly renewed the National Security Agency's power to collect telephonic data in bulk for surveillance purposes.

The office of the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the disclosure of the filing and its result is consistent with the chief's prior declassification decision and in light of the public interest in the mass surveillance metadata programme.

According to Dawn News, in mid-August US President Barack Obama had pledged to overhaul the country's spy programs amidst the revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden about the alleged snoop-ops carried out by the spy agencies.

The report said that Obama had promised more supervision, transparency and safeguards in the NSA's collection of electronic information.