Study finds software can’t replace spy agency data gathering

Software won’t be able to fully replace intelligence agencies’ bulk collection of communications, according to a new analysis from the National Research Council.

The determination comes a year after President Obama called for a study of whether the National Security Agency could use software to conduct more targeted snooping and replace the spy agency’s controversial bulk collection in the wake of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about the agency.

While the new report throws cold water on the idea that the NSA could use software to replace the bulk collection of people’s communications, researchers said that it could still help reduce that data gathering.

“From a technological standpoint, curtailing bulk data collection means analysts will be deprived of some information,” Robert Sproull, the head of the study committee and former director of Oracle’s Sun Labs, said in a statement.

Still, “a reduction in bulk collection can be partially mitigated by improving targeted collection, and technologies can improve oversight and transparency and help reduce the conflict between collection and privacy,” he said.

The NSA’s ability to collect in bulk vast amounts of data about people’s communications on the Internet, over the phone and through other forms came under intense scrutiny following Snowden’s revelations in the summer of 2013.

When he announced a targeted set of reforms, Obama also called for a study to see whether that bulk collection could be replaced with some technical algorithm so that the agency’s work can be more targeted.

But software won’t be able to replicate one “key value” of the bulk collection, which is the record of old bulk data that might be useful in the future, the report noted.

“If past events become interesting in the present … historical events and the data they provide will be available for analysis only if they were previously collected,” the report said.

Still, to protect privacy, the researchers suggested that the spy agency isolate bulk data to limit how it is accessed, restrict the types of searches that can be performing and check those searches to make sure they were appropriate.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have struggled on legislation to effectively end the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records. Late last year, the Senate came two votes shy of overcoming a procedural hurdle, killing the initiative for the time being.