NSA Collecting Images for Facial Recognition

The National Security Agency is collecting millions of images of people from the Internet.

The spy agency is using its global surveillance operations to collect the images for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, the New York Times reports.

According to the report, the NSA is using increasingly sophisticated software to harvest images in emails, text messages, social media sites, videoconferencing, and other digital communications.

Documents released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveal the agency intercepts "millions of images per day," including about 55,000 "facial recognition quality images."

Officials believe the collection could revolutionize the way they find intelligence targets around the world.