Federal Judge Rules NSA Phone Spying Is Legal
U.S. District Judge William Pauley ruled Friday that the National Security Agency's dragnet collection of telephone data is legal, dismissing a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley ruled Friday that the National Security Agency’s dragnet collection of telephone data is legal, dismissing a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Guardian reports:
US district judge William Pauley said the dragnet program “represents the government’s counter-punch” to al-Qaida in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. The decision conflicts with a ruling in another case, increasing the likelihood that the US supreme court will take up the issue.
In the latest case, Pauley noted that the program was controversial, but lawful. “While robust discussions are under way across the nation, in Congress, and at the White House, the question for this court is whether the government’s bulk telephony metadata program is lawful. The court finds it is.
“But the question of whether that program should be conducted is for the other two coordinate branches of government to decide.”
Pauley’s ruling stated the phone data-collection program could have helped investigators detect plans for the 9/11 attacks. That claim seems to ignore the fact that traditional intelligence work and notices from U.S. allies had turned up abundant evidence that an attack was imminent.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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And this time there's "much less public scrutiny," writes Trevor Timm at The Guardian.
The secrecy surrounding police use of these "anti-terrorism" devices in ordinary criminal investigations is a big and growing problem, ACLU experts say, one that puts some defendants at an unfair and illegal disadvantage.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, has introduced a bill aimed at controlling the use of a surveillance tool that is disguised as a cellphone tower in order to extract metadata.
"Go dark against data retention," consumer advocates tell users in a new campaign against invasive surveillance laws.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday gave Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a big reason to crank up his hustle if he wants to hang on to the part of the Patriot Act that allows for the bulk collection of Americans' phone records.
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