“Today, we are releasing the latest version of our Transparency Report concerning government requests for user data. This includes government requests for user data in criminal cases, as well as national security matters under U.S. law. Google fought for the right to publish this information in court and before Congress, and we continue to believe… Continue Reading
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Search Results for: FISA
The New Era of Secret Law
Brennan Center for Justice – New Report: “Secret Law” Governs Key Aspects of National Security Policy – “At least 74 opinions, memoranda, and letters issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) between 2002 and 2009 on core post-9/11 national security topics, including intelligence activities and the detention and interrogation of terrorist suspects,… Continue Reading
Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings on Mass Surveillance Statute
Via EFF: “The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act Tuesday May 10. The Act, passed in 2008, created what is now known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 is used for mass spying, and government surveillance conducted under the law… Continue Reading
Surveillance of Foreigners Outside the United States Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Via FAS – Surveillance of Foreigners Outside the United States Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney. April 13, 2016. “After the attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to conduct a Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) to “intercept international communications… Continue Reading
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
No Longer a Neutral Magistrate: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in the Wake of the War on Terror
Mondale, Walter F. and Stein, Robert A. and Fisher, Caitlinrose, No Longer a Neutral Magistrate: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in the Wake of the War on Terror (January 1, 2016). Minnesota Law Review, Forthcoming. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2712892 Since the founding of our nation, the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government… Continue Reading
Federal Court Lifts Gag Order on National Security Letter Recipient
EPIC – “For the first time, a federal court has lifted a national security letter gag order, allowing an Internet Service Provider to publish the FBI’s demands for records of user web browsing history, IP addresses, online purchases, and location information. The FBI issues thousands of NSLs each year, forcing companies to disclose troves of… Continue Reading
ODNI Announces Transition to New Telephone Metadata Program
News release: “Beginning Sunday, November 29, the government is prohibited from collecting telephone metadata records in bulk under Section 215, including of both U.S. and non-U.S. persons. And, while under the prior program NSA collected metadata in bulk and sought court approval for individual queries, the USA FREEDOM Act requires that the government must now… Continue Reading
NGOs Reject “Safe Harbor 2.0,” Urge EU and US to Protect Fundamental Rights
EPIC – NGOs Reject “Safe Harbor 2.0,” Urge EU and US to Protect Fundamental Rights – Leading human rights and consumer organizations have issued a letter to urge the US and the EU to protect the fundamental right to privacy. After the Schrems decision the parties are now renegotiating the invalidated Safe Harbor arrangement. The… Continue Reading
Secret court authorizes continued telephone metadata collection
The Guardian UK: “After a decade in the shadows, a secretive surveillance court that authorises the bulk collection of American telephone records seized on its last chance to show off a little personality on Tuesday [June 30, 2015]. “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, well, at least for 180 days,” wrote judge Michael… Continue Reading
USA FREEDOM Act Reinstates Expired USA PATRIOT Act Provisions
CRS Legal Sidebar USA FREEDOM Act Reinstates Expired USA PATRIOT Act Provisions but Limits Bulk Collection 6/4/2015: “Following a contentious debate and passagein the Senate, the USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 2048) was signed into law onJune 2, 2015. The new law contains eight titles, spanning a range of national security topics from reauthorizing expired investigative… Continue Reading
Overview of Constitutional Challenges to NSA Collection Activities
CRS – Overview of Constitutional Challenges to NSA Collection Activities, Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney; Andrew Nolan, Legislative Attorney, Richard M. Thompson II, Legislative Attorney. May 21, 2015. “Beginning in summer 2013, media reports of foreign intelligence activities conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) have been widely published. The reports have focused on two… Continue Reading
