Welcome to the Tech Meme Ride Home for Tuesday, March 5th, 2019. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, the

NSA program Snowden revealed might be done.

Microsoft is readying a Windows light.

Poor iPhone sales are hitting FoxCon workers hard and why one seemingly random

password is a poor choice if you care about your security. Here's what you miss today in the world of

tech.

According to a senior GOP congressional aid, the, has shut down that program, revealed by Edward Snowden

in 2013 that collected domestic phone and text records.

Quoting the New York Times, the agency has not used the system in months, and the Trump administration might not ask Congress to renew its legal authority, which is set to expire at the end of the year, according to the aid, Luke Murray, the House Minority Leaders National Security

Advisor, end quote.

But I mean we shouldn't assume that the NSA has just

evolved, evolved. Indeed,

quote, intelligence agencies can use the technique on data obtained

through other means, like collection from networks

abroad where there are fewer legal limits, but those approaches do not offer the same systematic

access to domestic phone records. Congress ended and replaced the program disclosed by Mr. Snowden

with the USA Freedom Act of 2015 which will expire in December. Security and

privacy advocates have been gearing up for a legislative battle over whether to extend or revise the program and

with what changes, if any.

Mr. Murray, who is an advisor for Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, raised doubts over

the weekend about whether that debate will be

necessary. His remarks came during a podcast for the national security website Law Fair, end quote. In The Verge, Tom Warren is reporting that Microsoft is creating a Chrome OS-like

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