NSA Has Direct Access to Smartphone Data, Report Says

Just when it seemed the biggest NSA-related revelations were over, a new report says the U.S. intelligence agency has had direct access to private smartphone data for years.

Germany's Spiegel Online claims it has seen documents that detail the NSA's ability to tap into leading smartphone platforms, including Apple's iOS, Google's Android and BlackBerry. In fact, based on the documents referenced, the agency has even set up separate teams dedicated to working on each operating system.

The documents also describe the NSA’s ability to access a smartphone’s SMS traffic, notes, location information and contact lists, according to Spiegel. The online news site added, however, that the smartphone access was targeted — in some cases, without the knowledge of smartphone companies — rather than carried out on a mass scale. Read more...