Tuesday, December 17, 2013

NSA bulk data collection ruled unconstitutional by lower court

Judge slaps NSA surveillance with stop order | canada.com - William Marsden:

December 16,2013 - "A U.S. judge has ruled that the National Security Agency’s indiscriminate, bulk seizure of Americans’ telephone records is “almost certainly” unconstitutional and has issued a preliminary injunction to stop the highly controversial surveillance program.

The NSA has argued its widespread collection of phone records and, under a program called PRISM, Internet data allows U.S. intelligence services to identify terrorists and uncover their plots.

“I am not convinced at this point in the litigation that the NSA’s database has ever truly served the purpose of rapidly identifying terrorists in time-sensitive investigations,” U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon said in his 68-page judgment....

"In light of the “significant national security interest at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issue,” Leon ordered a delay in the execution of the injunction pending appeal from the government....

"The injunction bars the government from collecting any telephone 'metadata' from personal accounts obtained from the telephone network company Verizon as part of the NSA’s bulk collection program. It also requires that the government destroy any bulk collection metadata in its possession originating from Verizon."

Read more: http://o.canada.com/news/judge-slaps-nsa-surveillance-with-stop-order/
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