The Department of Justice secretly obtained the telephone records of Associated Press journalists over a two-month period in early 2012, the AP alleged in a Monday letter(Opens in a new window) to the agency.

The collection came to light last Friday when U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. sent a letter to the AP’s general counsel, Laura Malone, to advise her that “at some unidentified time earlier this year, the Department obtained telephone toll records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to the AP and its journalists,” AP president and CEO Gary Pruitt wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder.

The records, which date back to early 2012, cover an AP general phone number in New York City as well as AP bureaus in New York City, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Connecticut, and at the House of Representatives, Pruitt said.

“This action was taken without advance notice to AP or to any of the affected journalists, and even after the fact no notice has been sent to individual journalists whose home phones and cell phone records were seized by the Department,” Pruitt wrote.

The records in question include communications with confidential sources “and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know,” according to Pruitt, who argued that the data collection was overbroad and likely a violation of the AP’s constitutional rights.

Pruitt has demanded that the DOJ return the records to the AP and destroy any copies. He also wants to know why this happened and how the agency plans to mitigate the impact on AP and its reporters.

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters,” Pruitt said.

“We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. ” Those regulations require us to make every reasonable effort to obtain information through alternative means before even considering a subpoena for the phone records of a member of the media. We must notify the media organization in advance unless doing so would pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation. Because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the public interest in the free flow of information and the public interest in the fair and effective administration of our criminal laws.”

Last month, the AP’s Twitter account was hacked, and the organization later said that the intrusion “came after hackers made repeated attempts to steal the passwords of AP journalists,” but did not elaborate.

The news comes shortly after Bloomberg admitted that reporters for Bloomberg News had access to Bloomberg subscriber data and could monitor their login activity.

The company acknowledged the misstep in a blog post(Opens in a new window) this morning. “The error is inexcusable,” wrote Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News. “Last month, we immediately changed our policy so that reporters now have no greater access to information than our customers have. Removing this access will have no effect on Bloomberg news-gathering.”

Having data on Bloomberg terminal clients was more important in years past, Winkler said, but brings up data privacy issues in the digital age. “At no time did reporters have access to trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter or other related systems. Nor did they have access to clients’ messages to one another. They couldn’t see the stories that clients were reading or the securities clients might be looking at” he said.

In 2011, meanwhile, a phone-snooping scandal in the U.K. led to the demise of The News of the World, as well as several arrests.

For more, check out How to Spy On People.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 8 p.m. Eastern with comment from the DOJ.