DHAKA: Almost five billion mobile phone location records are logged by the National Security Agency every day.

The Washington Post reports, says the BBC.

The data is said to help the NSA track individuals, and map who they know, to aid the agency’s anti-terror work.

The ‘dragnet surveillance’ was condemned by digital rights groups who called for the NSA’s snooping efforts to be reined in.

The news comes as Microsoft plans to use more encryption to thwart NSA spying on it and its customers.

The huge database built up by the NSA keeps an eye on ‘hundreds of millions’ of mobile phones, said the Post, adding that it let the agency map movements and relationships in ways that were ‘previously unimaginable’.

It added that the vast programme potentially surpassed any other NSA project in terms of its impact on privacy.

Information about the programme was in papers released to the Post by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

BDST: 2042 HRS, DEC 05, 2013