NSA collected 56,000 e-mails by Americans a year: documents

HUGE HAUL: The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland. NSA may have unintentionally collected as many as 56,000 e-mails of Americans per year between 2008 and 2011 in a programme that a secret US court subsequently said may have violated US law and the Constitution, according to documents released on Wednesday. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: The National Security Agency may have unintentionally collected as many as 56,000 e-mails of Americans per year between 2008 and 2011 in a programme that a secret US court subsequently said may have violated US law and the Constitution, according to documents released on Wednesday. 

The once-classified documents were released by US intelligence agencies as part of an unprecedented White House effort to smooth the uproar following revelations by former contractor Edward Snowden about the extent of secret government surveillance programs.