Staff / TruthdigMay 12, 2014
Since the very first Snowden leak a year ago, one of the more common refrains from defenders of the program is "but it's just metadata, not actual content, so what's the big deal?" Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )
Peter Z. Scheer / TruthdigMar 25, 2014
President Obama is expected to announce major reforms to the best known and most controversial program in the government's mass surveillance regime, however the devil is in the details. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )
Staff / TruthdigFeb 12, 2014
The East German secret police, known as the Stasi, were an infamously intrusive secret police force. They amassed dossiers on about one quarter of the population of the country during the Communist regime. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )
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Bill Blum / TruthdigJan 22, 2014
Whatever legal test is utilized by the FISA Court, there is no reason to believe that it will act as anything other than a rubber stamp for the NSA as it has so often in the past. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )
Alexander Reed Kelly / TruthdigJan 17, 2014
President Obama outlined what he called "concrete and substantial reforms" of global and domestic U.S. government surveillance Friday, but did not address such key issues as the NSA's sabotage and undermining of global encryption standards. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )
By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatchJan 13, 2014
Instead of a careful examination of what the NSA does, the legality of its actions, and how effective it has been in its stated mission of protecting Americans, we increasingly have government officials or retired versions of the same demanding -- quite literally -- Edward Snowden’s head and engaging in the usual fear-mongering over 9/11. Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )
Staff / TruthdigJan 2, 2014
In a new decision in support of the NSA's phone metadata surveillance program, U.S. District Judge William Pauley cites an intelligence failure involving the agency in the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks. But the judge's cited source, the 9/11 Commission Report, doesn't actually include the account he gives in the ruling. What's more, experts say the NSA could have avoided the pre-9/11 failure even without the metadata surveillance program. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )
Bill Blum / TruthdigDec 28, 2013
Just when you thought that momentum in the struggle to rein in the NSA was shifting in the direction of civil liberties, along comes another reminder that momentum is fleeting. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )
Alexander Reed Kelly / TruthdigDec 27, 2013
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. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )
Alexander Reed Kelly / TruthdigOct 1, 2013
The NSA stores the online metadata of millions of Internet users for up to a year, whether they are targets of investigations or not, The Guardian reports Monday that top secret documents reveal. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )
Alexander Reed Kelly / TruthdigJul 10, 2013
A recently launched online service offers a visual representation of the email metadata scooped up by the NSA and England's intelligence agency GCHQ by organizing your inbox according to the people with whom you correspond. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )
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