The Latest in IT Security

A California district court has barred the National Security Agency from destroying old call records that may be relevant to an ongoing surveillance lawsuit. While the lawsuit aims to end the NSAs collection of call records — from ATT customers in particular — the plaintiffs have actually filed and been granted a temporary restraining order that stops the government from destroying those call records after five years, as it normally would, while the court determines what records should be preserved as evidence for the trial. It is undisputed that the Court would be unable to afford effective relief once the records are destroyed, and therefore the harm to Plaintiffs would be irreparable, District Judge Jeffrey White writes. The restraining order was issued Monday, just days after the FISA court blocked the governments request to continue holding onto call records that were relevant to ongoing litigation.