President Obama is currently reviewing four alternatives to the mass surveillance carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA), according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The deadline for this decision is March 28th, though the alternatives were presented to President Obama before his speech about the NSA and the reforms that were needed.

The first alternative would be to transfer the data collection over to the telecommunications companies. The NSA would have to ask these companies for the data and only receive what they are looking for, as opposed to being able to see data that isn’t related to their search.

The second alternative would be to place another government organization in charge of the data, like the FBI, and third is relatively the same, except it would be an organization that is separate from the government and telecommunications companies.

The fourth alternative would be to get rid of the data collection program altogether, something the President himself has said he would need to think about “to determine exactly how this system might work.”

The White House National Security Council has refused to comment on the alternatives, and their spokesperson, Caitlin Hayden, could only say that they are essentially looking into the matter.

“They have kept us abreast of their progress, and we look forward to reviewing those options,” Hayden said to the WSJ. “Beyond that, I’m not in a position to discuss the details of an ongoing process.”

[via The Verge, The Wall Street Journal, image via MDGovpics’ flickr]