United States Courts, June 30, 2016: “The number of federal and state wiretaps terminated in 2015 increased nearly 17 percent over 2014, according to an annual report submitted to Congress by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. As in previous years, drug investigations and telephone wiretaps accounted for the large majority of cases. The… Continue Reading
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Search Results for: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
NSA Civil Liberties and Privacy Office Report to Congress
NSA – Transparency Report – The USA FREEDOM Act Business Records and FISA Implementation – January 16, 2016 “The National Security Agency’s Civil Liberties and Privacy Office (CLPO) conducted a civil liberties and privacy impact assessment examining how the National Security Agency (NSA) is implementing the changes effected by the USA FREEDOM Act to the… Continue Reading
Twitter – Taking the fight for #transparency to court
Twitter news release: ” As part of our latest transparency report released in July, wedescribed how we were being prohibited from reporting on the actual scope of surveillance of Twitter users by the U.S. government. Our ability to speak has been restricted by laws that prohibit and even criminalize a service provider like us from disclosing… Continue Reading
The executive order that led to mass spying, as told by NSA alumni
Cyrus Farivar – Ars Technica: [Executive Order] 12333 is used to target foreigners abroad, and collection happens outside the US,” whistleblower John Tye, a former State Department official, told Ars recently. “My complaint is not that they’re using it to target Americans, my complaint is that the volume of incidental collection on US persons is unconstitutional.” The document, known in… Continue Reading
Federal and State Wiretaps Up 5% in 2013 According to Annual Report
EPIC: “The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has issued the 2013 Wiretap Report, detailing the use of surveillance authorities by law enforcement agencies. This annual report, one of the most comprehensive issued by any agency, provides an insight into the debate over surveillance authorities and the use of privacy-enhancing technologies. In 2013, wiretap applications increased… Continue Reading
Former State Dept Exec Calls Executive Order 12333 a “Legal Loophole” for Spying on Americans
EFF – “What kind of data is the NSA collecting on millions, or hundreds of millions, of Americans?” That’s the question John Napier Tye, a former StateDepartment section chief for Internet freedom, calls on the government to answer in his powerful op-ed published today by the Washington Post. In it, Tye calls the NSA’s surveillance operations abroad, conducted under Executive… Continue Reading
Obama’s intel czar confirms targeting U.S. communications
National Journal – How the NSA Used a ‘Loophole’ to Spy on Americans: “Technology Correspondent Brendan Sasso reports that Obama’s intel czar confirmed that they’re targeting U.S. communications: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act gives the NSA broad power to listen in on phone calls and access emails. But the law covers only non-Americans located outside of… Continue Reading
Yahoo’s first transparency report cites more than 12,000 US data requests
IDG News Service – “Yahoo received 12,444 requests from the U.S. government for user data in the first half of this year, resulting in 11,402 instances of data disclosure, it said Friday in its first transparency report. For nearly 7,000 of the U.S. requests between Jan. 1 and June 30, only non-content data was disclosed,… Continue Reading
TRAC – New Information on FISA Judges
“Central to the growing dispute about the legality and value of the very extensive electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) is the secret federal court that approves the search warrants authorizing the NSA’s world-wide efforts. While the operations of both the NSA and the decisions of what is now incorrectly called the Federal… Continue Reading
EPIC Speaks to Oversight Board, Former Judge Questions FISC
“EPIC, in a prepared statement, addressed the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board regarding NSA surveillance under the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act at day long workshop. Retired Judge James Robertson, who served on the FISA Court, told the panel that he was “stunned” by the news that the government was collecting… Continue Reading
Wiretap Report 2012 – Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
“Each Wiretap Report uses tables, text, and charts to report information provided by federal and state officials on orders authorizing or approving interceptions of wire, oral, or electronic communications for the calendar year ending December 31…This report covers intercepts concluded between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012, and provides supplementary information on arrests and… Continue Reading
Obscured by Clouds or How to Address Governmental Access to Cloud Data from Abroad
Van Hoboken, Joris V. J., Arnbak, Axel and Van Eijk, Nico, Obscured by Clouds or How to Address Governmental Access to Cloud Data from abroad (June 9, 2013). Available at SSRN. “Transnational surveillance is obscured by the cloud. U.S. foreign intelligence law provides a wide and relatively unchecked possibility of access to data from Europeans… Continue Reading
