Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Search Results for: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduce Bill to Declassify FISA Court Opinions

Follow up to previous postings – this June 11, 2013 news release: “Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), accompanied by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Begich (D-AK), Al Franken (D-MN), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), introduced a bill that would put an end to the “secret law”… Continue Reading

DNI Statement on Recent Unauthorized Disclosures of Classified Information

Follow up to previous postings: UK Guardian – Verizon forced to hand over telephone data – full court ruling;  EPIC: Sweeping NSA Domestic Surveillance Order Approved Without Any Ties to Foreign Intelligence Collection and EPIC – Congress Begins Investigation of NSA Domestic Surveillance Program see: DNI Statement on Recent Unauthorized Disclosures of Classified Information, June… Continue Reading

Secrecy News Posts New CRS Reports on Privacy

Privacy: An Abbreviated Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012. “This report provides an overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).” Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping, October 9, 2012. Privacy: An Abridged Overview of the Electronic… Continue Reading

EPIC – 2011 Report: Wiretap Authorizations Decrease

“According to the 2011 Wiretap Report, released by the Administrative Office of the US Courts, federal and state applications for wiretap orders dropped 14 percent in 2011, compared to the number reported in 2010. The reduction in wiretaps resulted primarily from a drop in applications for intercepts in narcotics offenses. In 2011, a total of… Continue Reading

Report – Applications Made to FISA Court During Calendar Year 2011

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs, Applications Made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court During Calendar Year 2011, submitted pursuant to sections 107 and 502 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as amended, 50 U.S.C. Sec. 1801 et seq., and section 118 of USA PATRIOT Improvement Act and Reauthorization Act of… Continue Reading

Court Rejects Government's Executive Power Claims and Rules That Warrantless Wiretapping Violated Law

Follow up to previous postings on the Domestic Surveillance Program, via EFF, Kevin Bankston: “Today, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the federal district court in San Francisco found that the government illegally wiretapped an Islamic charity’s phone calls in 2004, granting summary judgment for the plaintiffs in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama. The court held… Continue Reading

Legality of Intrusion-Detection System To Protect Unclassified Computers Networks In Executive Branch

In following this January 9, 2009 memo, Legal Issues Relating to the Testing, Use and Deployment of an Intrusion-Detection System (EINSTEIN 2.0) to Protect Unclassified Computer Networks in the Executive Branch, this DOJ memo released September 18, 2009: Legality of Intrusion-Detection System To Protect Unclassified Computers Networks In Executive Branch – “Operation of the EINSTEIN… Continue Reading

Department of Justice Releases Nine Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda and Opinions

News release: “The Department of Justice today released two previously undisclosed Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memoranda and seven previously undisclosed opinions…The two memoranda memorialized that certain legal propositions in ten OLC opinions issued between 2001 and 2003 no longer reflected the views of OLC and “should not be treated as authoritative for any purpose.”… Continue Reading

Bipartisan FISA Compromise Reached

News release: “Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John “Jay” Rockefeller (WV), Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chair Kit Bond (MO), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD), and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (MO) announced today that a bipartisan compromise has been agreed to that will modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The FISA Amendments Act, H.R. 6304 (114… Continue Reading

House Democrats Reject Telecom Immunity

House Democratic Majority Leader/AP: “Locked in a standoff with the White House, House Democrats on Tuesday maintained their refusal to shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without a secret court’s permission. But they offered the companies an olive branch: the chance to use classified government documents to… Continue Reading