A senator complains that the Hemisphere Project, a secret program that allows law enforcement to search trillions of phone records, is an unconstitutional investigation without a search warrant.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, ``No warrant shall be issued except upon good cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.'' , prohibiting searches without a warrant. However, the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has entered into a secret agreement with the telecommunications company AT&T called the `` Hemisphere Project '' that allows it to investigate phone records, and this investigation violates the Fourth Amendment. The senator complained that

US government pays AT&T to let cops search phone records • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/22/wyden_hemisphere_letter/

The Hemisphere project is a public-private partnership between ONDCP and AT&T. The Hemisphere project will establish AT&T regional offices in Atlanta, Houston, and Los Angeles, and will collect information about all calls routed through AT&T switches, including calls originating from non-AT&T cell phones. Collect data.

The data collected dates back to 1987 and includes caller and recipient phone numbers, date, time, and caller location. In addition, the salaries of AT&T employees who work at this local office will be paid by ONDCP rather than AT&T.

The Hemisphere project became public knowledge in 2013 when it was reported by The New York Times. However, details of the program have not been made public, and privacy advocacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation are suing to make them public .

Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing NSA's - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/us/drug-agents-use-vast-phone-trove-eclipsing-nsas.html

Typically, such data is only made available to investigators with a search warrant issued by a court. However, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said the Hemisphere project does not require a search warrant. However, the Hemisphere Project is confidential and cannot be included in incident reports or court filings, and investigators are not permitted to disclose sources of information obtained under the project. .

'I have grave concerns about the legality of the Hemisphere project,' Sen. Wyden wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland (PDF file) . 'It contains troubling information that would rightly infuriate members of Congress and other members of Congress,' they wrote, calling for the Hemisphere project to be declassified.

AT&T declined to respond specifically to The Register about the Hemisphere project, but said, ``To be clear, information such as the one referenced in Sen. Wyden's letter... 'It would have been forced by a search warrant or a court order,' he said, rejecting Wyden's claims that he was conducting a search without a warrant.