https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/nsa-spying-exposed-by-snowden-was-illegal-and-not-very-useful-court-says/ > The National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone metadata from telecom providers was illegal, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The court also found that the phone-metadata collection exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was not necessary for the arrests of terror suspects in a case that the US government cited in defending the necessity of the surveillance program.