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May 22 15 9:43 PM
Snowden Calls Ruling Against NSA 'Extraordinarily Encouraging'
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has praised a federal appeals court's ruling that the agency's surveillance program is illegal, saying the decision was "extraordinarily encouraging." As we reported on Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2nd District in New York issued a ruling Thursday that the bulk collection of metadata that Snowden's leaks revealed was not authorized under federal law, including the USA Patriot Act. In an interview on livestream published by Forbes, Snowden, speaking from exile in Russia, called the ruling "significant."
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has praised a federal appeals court's ruling that the agency's surveillance program is illegal, saying the decision was "extraordinarily encouraging."
As we reported on Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 2nd District in New York issued a ruling Thursday that the bulk collection of metadata that Snowden's leaks revealed was not authorized under federal law, including the USA Patriot Act.
In an interview on livestream published by Forbes, Snowden, speaking from exile in Russia, called the ruling "significant."
Read more @ http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/08/405252184/snowden-ruling-against-nsa-extraordinarily-encouraging
Paul spoke for more than 10 hours on the floor of the Senate – and he and his colleagues reminded us the Patriot Act can collect a lot more than phone records Republican senator Rand Paul, with the help of Democrat Ron Wyden and several others, held court on the Senate floor for more than 10 and a half hours straight on Wednesday in an attempt to grind the Senate to a halt until the part of the Patriot Act used by the NSA to conduct mass surveillance expires on 1 June. (Although by stepping aside before midnight, it’s unclear if Paul did, in fact, derail the extension of the act). Paul spent a lot of his time eloquently explaining the dangers of secret and suspicionless spying on innocent Americans’ telephone records, but he and his colleagues also made a lot of other great points often lost in the current debate. Here are five: 1. The NSA can use the Patriot Act to collect in bulk a lot more than phone records The controversy over Section 215 of the Patriot Act centers around the NSA’s massive phone metadata program, first revealed by Edward Snowden in the Guardian in 2013, which allows the spy agency to collect the phone records of millions of innocent Americans. But as Wyden emphasized during one of Paul’s short interludes, the NSA also thinks it can use the same law to collect in bulk the cellphone location information of Americans – and it has in the past. The NSA thinks it can essentially turn all our phones into tracking devices 24 hours a day, despite the law saying nothing of the sort. While Wyden said the NSA claims it is not doing this today, he indicated the agency thinks it has the legal authority if it wants to. He strongly suggested the agency also believes it can collect in bulk millions of innocent Americans’ credit card records, medical records, financial and bank records, and gun records, using the same law as well. 2. The USA Freedom Act doesn’t cover everything While there’s debate about how much the USA Freedom Act – the legislation passed by the House of Representatives last week that would replace bulk collection with a system to search the data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis – actually reforms the NSA, there are major parts of the spy agency’s legal authority that everyone admits the bill does not amend. Paul repeatedly brought up the Fisa Amendments Act, which is the law underpinning the controversial Prism program – which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats – revealed by Edward Snowden. The NSA also abuses the same law to scan large portions of emails coming in and out of the United States in secret. The USA Freedom Act also doesn’t touch executive order 12333, which governs how the NSA can collect supposedly purely overseas communications. Whistleblower John Napier Tye harshly criticized this order in the Washington Post, saying that based on information he saw as someone with top-secret clearance as a high-ranking State Department official, “Americans should be even more concerned about the collection and storage of their communications under Executive Order 12333 than under Section 215 [of the Patriot Act].” 3. NSA surveillance is used for a lot more than just for terrorism cases Government officials often justify NSA surveillance by claiming it is vital for fighting terrorism, but many of its programs are used for a lot more than just that. Paul brought up the little-cited technique known as “parallel construction”, where the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gets wiretaps from the NSA and hands over the information to local cops, who then pretend they got the information from somewhere else besides the NSA. The whole point is to prevent courts and judges from ever finding out the information’s origin. Shortly after Snowden’s revelations first started in 2013, Reuters reported that the DEA had regularly laundered intelligence in this unconstitutional manner for years. 4. Using the Patriot Act for mass surveillance is illegal no matter what Congress does Lost in much of the debate over whether or not to reauthorize the Patriot Act is the fact that the historic second circuit court of appeals opinion, released two weeks ago, ruled that it was illegal for the NSA to use the law to conduct mass surveillance at all. Paul brought the opinion up several times over the course of the day, wondering out loud how Congress could even be considering renewing an authority for a program that would be illegal for the NSA to continue anyway.
Paul spoke for more than 10 hours on the floor of the Senate – and he and his colleagues reminded us the Patriot Act can collect a lot more than phone records
Republican senator Rand Paul, with the help of Democrat Ron Wyden and several others, held court on the Senate floor for more than 10 and a half hours straight on Wednesday in an attempt to grind the Senate to a halt until the part of the Patriot Act used by the NSA to conduct mass surveillance expires on 1 June. (Although by stepping aside before midnight, it’s unclear if Paul did, in fact, derail the extension of the act).
Paul spent a lot of his time eloquently explaining the dangers of secret and suspicionless spying on innocent Americans’ telephone records, but he and his colleagues also made a lot of other great points often lost in the current debate. Here are five:
The controversy over Section 215 of the Patriot Act centers around the NSA’s massive phone metadata program, first revealed by Edward Snowden in the Guardian in 2013, which allows the spy agency to collect the phone records of millions of innocent Americans. But as Wyden emphasized during one of Paul’s short interludes, the NSA also thinks it can use the same law to collect in bulk the cellphone location information of Americans – and it has in the past. The NSA thinks it can essentially turn all our phones into tracking devices 24 hours a day, despite the law saying nothing of the sort.
While Wyden said the NSA claims it is not doing this today, he indicated the agency thinks it has the legal authority if it wants to. He strongly suggested the agency also believes it can collect in bulk millions of innocent Americans’ credit card records, medical records, financial and bank records, and gun records, using the same law as well.
While there’s debate about how much the USA Freedom Act – the legislation passed by the House of Representatives last week that would replace bulk collection with a system to search the data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis – actually reforms the NSA, there are major parts of the spy agency’s legal authority that everyone admits the bill does not amend.
Paul repeatedly brought up the Fisa Amendments Act, which is the law underpinning the controversial Prism program – which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats – revealed by Edward Snowden. The NSA also abuses the same law to scan large portions of emails coming in and out of the United States in secret.
The USA Freedom Act also doesn’t touch executive order 12333, which governs how the NSA can collect supposedly purely overseas communications. Whistleblower John Napier Tye harshly criticized this order in the Washington Post, saying that based on information he saw as someone with top-secret clearance as a high-ranking State Department official, “Americans should be even more concerned about the collection and storage of their communications under Executive Order 12333 than under Section 215 [of the Patriot Act].”
Government officials often justify NSA surveillance by claiming it is vital for fighting terrorism, but many of its programs are used for a lot more than just that. Paul brought up the little-cited technique known as “parallel construction”, where the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gets wiretaps from the NSA and hands over the information to local cops, who then pretend they got the information from somewhere else besides the NSA. The whole point is to prevent courts and judges from ever finding out the information’s origin. Shortly after Snowden’s revelations first started in 2013, Reuters reported that the DEA had regularly laundered intelligence in this unconstitutional manner for years.
Lost in much of the debate over whether or not to reauthorize the Patriot Act is the fact that the historic second circuit court of appeals opinion, released two weeks ago, ruled that it was illegal for the NSA to use the law to conduct mass surveillance at all. Paul brought the opinion up several times over the course of the day, wondering out loud how Congress could even be considering renewing an authority for a program that would be illegal for the NSA to continue anyway.
Read more @ http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/21/rand-paul-senate-filibuster-nsa-surveillance
Now that the U.S. House has voted to reform the government’s sweeping telephone surveillance program, the Senate should quickly do the same. It’s a first step in a long overdue examination of government snooping on Americans. A determination to keep the country safe from the growing threat of terrorism produced the excesses of the National Security Agency. In the process, the agency not only violated the nation’s fundamental sense of privacy, but it also also resorted to methods deemed illegal by a federal appellate court earlier this month. The reform bill does not contain all the safeguards that privacy advocates want, but it’s a start. It prohibits the NSA’s bulk collection of “metadata,” which charts all the telephone calls made by Americans. Removing the government’s authority to collect the records is a plus, although the bill stops short of denying the information to the government.
Now that the U.S. House has voted to reform the government’s sweeping telephone surveillance program, the Senate should quickly do the same. It’s a first step in a long overdue examination of government snooping on Americans.
A determination to keep the country safe from the growing threat of terrorism produced the excesses of the National Security Agency. In the process, the agency not only violated the nation’s fundamental sense of privacy, but it also also resorted to methods deemed illegal by a federal appellate court earlier this month.
The reform bill does not contain all the safeguards that privacy advocates want, but it’s a start. It prohibits the NSA’s bulk collection of “metadata,” which charts all the telephone calls made by Americans. Removing the government’s authority to collect the records is a plus, although the bill stops short of denying the information to the government.
Read more @ http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article21515952.html
In American Civil Liberties Union v Clapper, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed head-on whether the National Security Agency’s (NSA) secretive bulk collection of every American’s telephone metadata was legal. The court’s answer? The program is not lawful. The court did not just rule the program unlawful; in its 97-page decision, the court gave loud and clear cues to Congress to reform existing intelligence-gathering legislation to both protect citizens' privacy and still provide the government the necessary tools to gather critical information on terrorism. Given the Fourth Amendment and our federal wiretapping legislation – both of which prohibit warrantless government surveillance of our electronic communications – a secretive collection of every American’s telephone call metadata unrelated to a targeted law enforcement investigation by the NSA would seem per se unlawful. So how did something so seemingly simple and clear become so complicated?
In American Civil Liberties Union v Clapper, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed head-on whether the National Security Agency’s (NSA) secretive bulk collection of every American’s telephone metadata was legal.
The court’s answer? The program is not lawful.
The court did not just rule the program unlawful; in its 97-page decision, the court gave loud and clear cues to Congress to reform existing intelligence-gathering legislation to both protect citizens' privacy and still provide the government the necessary tools to gather critical information on terrorism.
Given the Fourth Amendment and our federal wiretapping legislation – both of which prohibit warrantless government surveillance of our electronic communications – a secretive collection of every American’s telephone call metadata unrelated to a targeted law enforcement investigation by the NSA would seem per se unlawful.
So how did something so seemingly simple and clear become so complicated?
Read more @ http://theconversation.com/appeals-court-ruling-urges-congress-to-stop-nsas-mass-scale-surveillance-41546
The U.S. National Security Agency and its allies planned to send infected links to the Google and Samsung mobile app stores in an attempt to monitor smartphones, according to documents made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by CBC and the Intercept. The pilot project, known as Irritant Horn, would have made it possible for spies from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia to spy on devices around the world without an owners' knowledge.
The U.S. National Security Agency and its allies planned to send infected links to the Google and Samsung mobile app stores in an attempt to monitor smartphones, according to documents made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by CBC and the Intercept.
The pilot project, known as Irritant Horn, would have made it possible for spies from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia to spy on devices around the world without an owners' knowledge.
Read more @ http://www.businessinsider.com/report-before-snowden-leak-the-nsa-planned-to-hack-google-and-samsung-app-stores-2015-5?IR=T
Spying program Snowden exposed expires June 1 unless reauthorized by Congress. "This has been a very important part of our effort to defend the homeland since 9/11. We know that the terrorists overseas are trying to recruit people in our country to commit atrocities in our country." Those were the words of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The GOP leader was rallying behind his legislation that would prevent the June 1 expiration of the phone metadata spying program Edward Snowden exposed two years ago. McConnell's statement Sunday on ABC's This Week comes days after the House passed a measure known as the USA Freedom Act. Supported by the President Barack Obama administration, the measure would dramatically revise the surveillance program—the first time following the 9/11 terror attacks that lawmakers have voted to reduce the surveillance state. But was McConnell exaggerating? Yes. Well, that is if you believe the Obama-commissioned Privacy and Civil Liberties Board. Last year it concluded that the program didn't help the nation's spies counter terrorism. "Based on information provided to the Board, we have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the telephone records program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation," the board concluded. "Moreover, we are aware of no instance in which the program directly contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown terrorist plot or the disruption of a terrorist attack."
"This has been a very important part of our effort to defend the homeland since 9/11. We know that the terrorists overseas are trying to recruit people in our country to commit atrocities in our country."
Those were the words of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The GOP leader was rallying behind his legislation that would prevent the June 1 expiration of the phone metadata spying program Edward Snowden exposed two years ago.
McConnell's statement Sunday on ABC's This Week comes days after the House passed a measure known as the USA Freedom Act. Supported by the President Barack Obama administration, the measure would dramatically revise the surveillance program—the first time following the 9/11 terror attacks that lawmakers have voted to reduce the surveillance state.
But was McConnell exaggerating?
Yes. Well, that is if you believe the Obama-commissioned Privacy and Civil Liberties Board. Last year it concluded that the program didn't help the nation's spies counter terrorism.
"Based on information provided to the Board, we have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the telephone records program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation," the board concluded. "Moreover, we are aware of no instance in which the program directly contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown terrorist plot or the disruption of a terrorist attack."
Read more @ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/05/rhetoric-flies-as-deadline-looms-to-renew-bulk-phone-metadata-surveillance/
For U.S. Allies, a Paradigm Shift in Intelligence Collection
Fearful of an expanding extremist threat, countries that for years have relied heavily on U.S. intelligence are quickly building up their own capabilities with new technology, new laws and -- in at least one case -- a searing debate on how much the American government should be allowed to spy on their own citizens. Responding to a jihadi movement that is successfully recruiting people from around the world, France and Canada are both passing laws that would dramatically ramp up their surveillance apparatus. In France, lawmakers are on the verge of approving a bill that would let the government install "black boxes" to collect metadata from every major phone and Internet company. Canada's measures were rushed through after a two separate attacks in October 2014 on Canadian soldiers -- including one that ended when the gunman stormed Parliament and was shot to death by guards and police. France's law went into high gear after the January terror attacks on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket that left 20 dead, including the gunmen. Analysts say it's not so much a question of diminishing cooperation with the U.S. -- the revelations of Edward Snowden have ultimately done little to harm relationships between allies -- as a push to increase domestic capacities ill-equipped to face the rising threat of Islamic State and other jihadi groups. "These are not people coming from the outside, these are not people who are taking plane trips, they are not people who attracted notice outside our countries. These are people who come from the heart of our society," said Alain Chouet, a former French intelligence official who recently returned from an extended trip to Canada where he debated the measures in both countries. "International cooperation in this area isn't hugely useful."
Fearful of an expanding extremist threat, countries that for years have relied heavily on U.S. intelligence are quickly building up their own capabilities with new technology, new laws and -- in at least one case -- a searing debate on how much the American government should be allowed to spy on their own citizens.
Responding to a jihadi movement that is successfully recruiting people from around the world, France and Canada are both passing laws that would dramatically ramp up their surveillance apparatus. In France, lawmakers are on the verge of approving a bill that would let the government install "black boxes" to collect metadata from every major phone and Internet company.
Canada's measures were rushed through after a two separate attacks in October 2014 on Canadian soldiers -- including one that ended when the gunman stormed Parliament and was shot to death by guards and police. France's law went into high gear after the January terror attacks on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket that left 20 dead, including the gunmen.
Analysts say it's not so much a question of diminishing cooperation with the U.S. -- the revelations of Edward Snowden have ultimately done little to harm relationships between allies -- as a push to increase domestic capacities ill-equipped to face the rising threat of Islamic State and other jihadi groups.
"These are not people coming from the outside, these are not people who are taking plane trips, they are not people who attracted notice outside our countries. These are people who come from the heart of our society," said Alain Chouet, a former French intelligence official who recently returned from an extended trip to Canada where he debated the measures in both countries. "International cooperation in this area isn't hugely useful."
Read more @ http://www.cio-today.com/article/index.php?story_id=111003TUXMNU
Report by department’s inspector general found that the FBI received from the Fisa court 51 orders for such data between 2007 and 2009 As lawmakers and security agencies braced for a potential loss of the heart of the Patriot Act, a long-delayed Justice Department report showed that the FBI uses the surveillance authorities it provides for “large collections” of Americans’ internet records. Section 215 of the Patriot Act permits the FBI to collect business records, such as medical, educational and tax information or other “tangible things” relevant to an ongoing counter–terrorism or espionage investigation. Since 2006, the NSA had also secretly used it to collect US phone data in bulk. After Edward Snowden’s leaks allowed the Guardian to reveal the phone-records bulk collection in June 2013, deep political opposition coalesced around the bulk program – eclipsing the FBI’s acquisition of other data, which has long been an issue only for civil libertarians. But a Justice Department inspector general’s report finally released on Thursday covering the FBI’s use of Section 215 from 2007 to 2009 found that the bureau is using the business-records authority “to obtain large collections of metadata”, such as “electronic communication transactional information”.
Report by department’s inspector general found that the FBI received from the Fisa court 51 orders for such data between 2007 and 2009
As lawmakers and security agencies braced for a potential loss of the heart of the Patriot Act, a long-delayed Justice Department report showed that the FBI uses the surveillance authorities it provides for “large collections” of Americans’ internet records.
Section 215 of the Patriot Act permits the FBI to collect business records, such as medical, educational and tax information or other “tangible things” relevant to an ongoing counter–terrorism or espionage investigation. Since 2006, the NSA had also secretly used it to collect US phone data in bulk.
After Edward Snowden’s leaks allowed the Guardian to reveal the phone-records bulk collection in June 2013, deep political opposition coalesced around the bulk program – eclipsing the FBI’s acquisition of other data, which has long been an issue only for civil libertarians.
But a Justice Department inspector general’s report finally released on Thursday covering the FBI’s use of Section 215 from 2007 to 2009 found that the bureau is using the business-records authority “to obtain large collections of metadata”, such as “electronic communication transactional information”.
Read more @ http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/21/fbi-patriot-act-doj-report
A woman at a gym tells her friend she pays rent higher than $2,000 a month. An ex-Microsoft employee describes his work as an artist to a woman he’s interviewing to be his assistant—he makes paintings and body casts, as well as something to do with infrared light that’s hard to discern from his foreign accent. Another man describes his gay lover’s unusual sexual fetish, which involves engaging in fake fistfights, “like we were doing a scene from Batman Returns.” These conversations—apparently real ones, whose participants had no knowledge an eavesdropper might be listening—were recorded and published by the NSA. Well, actually no, not the NSA, but an anonymous group of anti-NSA protestors claiming to be contractors of the intelligence agency and launching a new “pilot program” in New York City on its behalf. That spoof of a pilot program, as the prankster provocateurs describe and document in videos on their website, involves planting micro-cassette recorders under tables and benches around New York city, retrieving the tapes and embedding the resulting audio on their website: Wearealwayslistening.com.
A woman at a gym tells her friend she pays rent higher than $2,000 a month. An ex-Microsoft employee describes his work as an artist to a woman he’s interviewing to be his assistant—he makes paintings and body casts, as well as something to do with infrared light that’s hard to discern from his foreign accent. Another man describes his gay lover’s unusual sexual fetish, which involves engaging in fake fistfights, “like we were doing a scene from Batman Returns.”
These conversations—apparently real ones, whose participants had no knowledge an eavesdropper might be listening—were recorded and published by the NSA. Well, actually no, not the NSA, but an anonymous group of anti-NSA protestors claiming to be contractors of the intelligence agency and launching a new “pilot program” in New York City on its behalf. That spoof of a pilot program, as the prankster provocateurs describe and document in videos on their website, involves planting micro-cassette recorders under tables and benches around New York city, retrieving the tapes and embedding the resulting audio on their website: Wearealwayslistening.com.
Read more @ http://www.wired.com/2015/05/nsa-pranksters-planted-tape-recorders-nyc/
DEEP in the desert in Utah, the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s signals intelligence branch, has built a $1.5 billion centre to scoop up and analyse data from the internet. The building includes its own water-treatment facility, electric substation and 60 back-up diesel generators. It will use over a million gallons of water a day. Its data-storage capacity would be enough, according to one estimate, to store a year of footage of round-the-clock video-recording of over a million people. At this centre, communications from across the globe are tapped directly from the fibre-optic backbone of the internet. And yet even as these data are gathered, America’s politicians are fretfully discussing how much of the pile government snoops can look at, and under what circumstances. Two years after Edward Snowden, a contractor for the NSA, revealed the extent of it, the technical capacity of America’s surveillance state has never been more dramatic. Its legal capacity, however, is becoming markedly more restricted. In Congress and in the courts, the right of the government to collect the data of Americans is being challenged. Politically, the consensus that this level of surveillance (at least of American citizens) is necessary appears to be breaking down. As The Economist went to press on May 21st, Congress was in a fraught debate about whether and how to renew Section 215 of the Patriot Act—a law passed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11th 2001—which was due to expire. House Republicans, urged on by Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning senator who is running for president, were deadlocked with Republican leaders in the Senate. On May 20th-21st Mr Paul spoke against renewal for 10½ hours, arguing that the act damaged both liberty and privacy. Senate leaders, though, worried about hampering the ability of spooks to spy.
DEEP in the desert in Utah, the National Security Agency (NSA), America’s signals intelligence branch, has built a $1.5 billion centre to scoop up and analyse data from the internet. The building includes its own water-treatment facility, electric substation and 60 back-up diesel generators. It will use over a million gallons of water a day. Its data-storage capacity would be enough, according to one estimate, to store a year of footage of round-the-clock video-recording of over a million people. At this centre, communications from across the globe are tapped directly from the fibre-optic backbone of the internet.
And yet even as these data are gathered, America’s politicians are fretfully discussing how much of the pile government snoops can look at, and under what circumstances. Two years after Edward Snowden, a contractor for the NSA, revealed the extent of it, the technical capacity of America’s surveillance state has never been more dramatic. Its legal capacity, however, is becoming markedly more restricted. In Congress and in the courts, the right of the government to collect the data of Americans is being challenged. Politically, the consensus that this level of surveillance (at least of American citizens) is necessary appears to be breaking down.
As The Economist went to press on May 21st, Congress was in a fraught debate about whether and how to renew Section 215 of the Patriot Act—a law passed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11th 2001—which was due to expire. House Republicans, urged on by Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning senator who is running for president, were deadlocked with Republican leaders in the Senate. On May 20th-21st Mr Paul spoke against renewal for 10½ hours, arguing that the act damaged both liberty and privacy. Senate leaders, though, worried about hampering the ability of spooks to spy.
As the Senate considers the USA Freedom Act this week, policymakers should strengthen it by limiting large-scale collection of records and reinforcing transparency and carrying court reforms further. The Senate should also take care not to weaken the bill, and should reject any amendments that would require companies to retain personal data for longer than is necessary for business purposes. It has been two years since the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden unleashed a steady stream of documents that exposed the intention by the United States and the United Kingdom to “collect it all” in the digital age. These revelations demonstrate how unchecked surveillance can metastasize and undermine democratic institutions if intelligence agencies are allowed to operate in the shadows, without robust legal limits and oversight.
As the Senate considers the USA Freedom Act this week, policymakers should strengthen it by limiting large-scale collection of records and reinforcing transparency and carrying court reforms further. The Senate should also take care not to weaken the bill, and should reject any amendments that would require companies to retain personal data for longer than is necessary for business purposes.
It has been two years since the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden unleashed a steady stream of documents that exposed the intention by the United States and the United Kingdom to “collect it all” in the digital age. These revelations demonstrate how unchecked surveillance can metastasize and undermine democratic institutions if intelligence agencies are allowed to operate in the shadows, without robust legal limits and oversight.
Read more @ http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nsa-snooping/congress-races-wrap-nsa-bulk-data-collection-debate-n361281
Read more @ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/05/21/buck-sexton-explains-the-debate-over-section-215-of-the-patriot-act-in-just-two-minutes/
Read more @ http://www.salon.com/2015/05/21/9_depressing_predictions_for_the_future_of_america_partner/
The New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, voiced his support for the surveillance capabilities of American law enforcers and intelligence agencies on Monday during a speech that also ranked him among the more hawkish likely presidential contenders.
Read more @ http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/18/chris-christie-backs-nsa-snooping-hawkish-foreign-policy-speech
We are again facing the fallacy of the false choice. Those who are concerned about protecting the privacy rights of Americans (including this writer) should not have to choose between protection of those rights and avoiding another 9/11 terrorist attack. The National Security Agency went too far when it established a program to collect the bulk metadata of all telephone calls made by Americans, on the thin reed that such collection was “relevant,” as that word was used in Section 215 of the Patriot Act, to finding and preventing terrorist acts in the U.S. But a recent 97-page decision by the New York-based Second Circuit Court of Appeals, applauded by privacy advocates, actually was a narrow legal decision based on statutory construction. The court found that when Congress passed the act that explicitly allowed collection of “relevant” telephone records information of U.S. citizens, the word “relevant” was not intended to mean all records, regardless of whether there was a specific investigation of a possible call from a suspected foreign terrorist or someone affiliated with a terrorist organization. But note that, despite the position taken by supporters of Edward Snowden and other anti-NSA challengers, the Second Circuit panel did not rule that the program was a violation of the Fourth Amendment or in any way unconstitutional. The court decision allowed access to the metadata, with private companies retaining them. It actually seemed to invite the metadata program to continue, while requiring Congress to be more specific in the circumstances and evidence of a terrorist threat justifying a search of the telephone companies’ bulk metadata.
Read more @ http://www.newsmax.com/LannyDavis/Privacy-Protection-Security-NSA/2015/05/21/id/645965/
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