National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background, January 3, 2014: “Five statutory provisions vest government agencies responsible for certain foreign intelligence investigations (principally the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)) with authority to issue written commands comparable to administrative subpoenas. A National Security Letter (NSL) seeks customer and consumer transaction information in national security investigations from communications providers,… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Patriot Act
Federal Appeals Court Rules that Legal Policy Memos Can Be Withheld From the Publi
“The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled that the FBI may withhold a memo prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel concerning the law governing “exigent letter” requests to telephone companies for call records. The decision affirmed an earlier opinion that the memo was privileged advice, and exempt from disclosure under the Freedom information Act. The… Continue Reading
Foreign Policy – THE LEADING GLOBAL THINKERS OF 2013
Foreign Policy – THE LEADING GLOBAL THINKERS OF 2013 THE SURVEILLANCE STATE DECISION-MAKERS CHALLENGERS NATURALS INNOVATORS ADVOCATES CHRONICLERS HEALERS ARTISTS MOGULS Continue Reading
Spiegel – Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
“The NSA’s TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency’s top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.” [TAO – Tailored Access Operations] “TAO specialists have directly accessed the protected networks… Continue Reading
Judge Grants Motion to Dismiss in NSA Surveillance Case
ACLU: “A federal court issued an opinion and order in ACLU v. Clapper [American Civil Liberties Union v. Clapper, 13-cv-03994, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)], the ACLU’s challenge to the constitutionality of the NSA’s mass call-tracking program, ruling that the government’s bulk collection of phone records is lawful under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and under… Continue Reading
Research – MetaPhone: The NSA’s Got Your Number
by Jonathan Mayer, a grad student at Stanford – Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler – via the Web Policy Blog “MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating. In earlier posts, we reported how automated analysis of call and text activity can reveal private relationships, as well as how phone subscribers are closely… Continue Reading
DNI Announces the Declassification of the Existence of Collection Activities Authorized by President Bush Shortly After Attacks of September 11, 2001
News release, December 21, 2013: “Yesterday, the Director of National Intelligence (“DNI”) announced the declassification of the existence of collection activities authorized by President George W. Bush shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Starting on October 4, 2001, President Bush authorized the Secretary of Defense to employ the capabilities of the Department of Defense,… Continue Reading
UN Votes for Symbolic Online Privacy Resolution
Reuters: “The UN General Assembly has unanimously called on a curb of supernormal surveillance of communications. The resolution drafted by Brazil and Germany was in response to revelations over the eavesdropping conducted by the US on a global scale. All 193 UN member states agreed “to respect and protect the right to privacy, including in the context… Continue Reading
Google Transparency Report: Government removal requests continue to rise
“We launched the Transparency Report in 2010 to provide hard evidence of how laws and policies affect access to information online. Today, for the eighth time, we’re releasing new numbers showing requests from governments to remove content from our services. From January to June 2013, we received 3,846 government requests to remove 24,737 pieces of content—a 68 percent increase over the… Continue Reading
Gallup – Record High in U.S. Say Big Government Greatest Threat
Now 72% say it is greater threat than big business or big labor, by Jeffrey M. Jones: “Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor, a record high in the nearly 50-year history of this question. The prior high for… Continue Reading
U.S. District Court Judge Opens Door on Fourth Amendment and NSA Metadata Collection
Politico: A federal judge ruled Monday, December 16, 2013 that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.… Continue Reading
Commentary – How the NSA Piggy-Backs on Third-Party Trackers
How the NSA Piggy-Backs on Third-Party Trackers by Edward Felten and Jonathan Mayer “Snooping on the Internet is tricky. The network is diffuse, global, and packed with potential targets. There’s no central system for identifying or locating individuals, so it’s hard to keep track of who is online and what they’re up to. What’s a spy agency to… Continue Reading
