FBI’s Data Mining Needs Scrutiny, Too

July 1 (Bloomberg) -- We recently learned that the NationalSecurity Agency has a database with the records of almost everyphone call made in the U.S. To address public concerns over itssurveillance activities, the agency has begun to explain how ituses the metadata -- information including when calls are made,how long they last and to whom they are placed -- it hasaccumulated over the last seven years.

Although Americans deserve this explanation, they shouldn’tdelude themselves. Even if the NSA’s controversial program wereshut down tomorrow, another government agency that is busycollecting and retaining personal data would keep humming along.True accountability for the government’s surveillance activitiesshould also include an airing of -- and tighter restrictions on-- the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s power to collect andstore substantial amounts of innocuous information aboutAmericans.