Federal judge rules against New York Times in withholding of records of FBI terrorism investigations

A federal judge ruled that the FBI could withhold data from its terrorism investigations from a New York Times investigative reporter. The judge said The New York Times had not rebutted the FBI’s statement that they had fulfilled requests made under the Freedom of Information Act except for that under FOIA exemption. -db From the [...]

Senators charge public deceived by government on justification for domestic spying

Two Democratic senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the Justice Department of misleading the public on legal justification of domestic spying under the Patriot Act. The DOJ denied that they provided any misleading information. The senators  are concerned about Section 215 of the Patriot Act that allows a secret national security court to enable [...]

2nd Circuit: Federal court allows challenge to warrantless surveillance

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for a second time that a suit could proceed that challenged a Congressional law allowing the National Security Agency to electronically spy on citizens without a probable-cause warrant. The case may finally come to trial unless the Obama administration uses the state secrets privilege to kill the [...]

Domestic spying pervasive since 9/11

President Barack Obama has done nothing to fulfill his promise to curtail warrantless spying and in fact wants Congress to renew powers given to the federal government to conduct the surveillance. Writing a commentary for Wired, Ryan Singel quotes Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute on the effectiveness of the spying, “We have become so [...]

ACLU sues for records of FBI’s domestic spying

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the FBI and the National Security Agency for withholding information about the eGuardian monitoring system that collects information on “suspicious activity” that may include taking photos of important buildings. The ACLU has been unsuccessful in its attempts to acquire the information through the Freedom of Information Act. The [...]

Open government: Senators propose bill on secret expansion of Patriot Act powers

A bill proposed by Senators Roy Wyden and Mark Udall would require the U.S. intelligence chief to admit to interpreting the Patriot Act to give the government massive domestic surveillance powers not granted by Congress. In a letter last week to Wyden and Udall, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted to the secret legal [...]

Memphis newspaper sues FBI for records on civil rights spy

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is suing the FBI for records about a photographer who was “advising the government of the plans and activities of civil rights leaders” in the 1960s. -db Courthouse News Service November 8, 2010 By Ryan Abbott WASHINGTON (CN) – The Memphis Commercial Appeal sued the FBI, saying the Bureau is unreasonably [...]

Domestic spying: Uncle Sam developing ability to reach wide and deep on Internet

Through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that the FBI and CIA are aggressively perfecting their ability to probe social networks and the Internet for intelligence data much of which is outside the law enforcement context. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary August 16, 2010 By Tim Wayne In the [...]

Federal judge dismisses secrets privilege in ruling wiretapping of Islamic charity illegal

A federal judge ruled that the Bush administration’s wiretapping of an Islamic charity in Oregon was illegal and should have been subjected to independent court review. -db Metropolitan News-Enterprise April 1, 2010 From Staff and Wire Service Reports In a repudiation of the Bush administration’s now-defunct Terrorist Surveillance Program, a federal judge ruled yesterday that [...]

Privacy: Internet freedom advocates want more protections for cell phone users

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined a broad coalition of groups  recommending the strengthening  of the federal law regulating government access to private phone and Internet communication. The law upholding privacy rights was written 25 years ago, and among other things the coalition wants it to take into consideration the huge surge in cell phone [...]

Story of government spying gets no play in media

A telecommunications technician in San Francisco discovers that the government is operating a covert  center in his own building that monitors the phone calls and internet traffic of millions of random citizens. When the story goes to the Los Angeles Times and 60 Minutes, the government successfully kills it. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary March 17, [...]

Blogger charges that U.S. government enabled Chinese hackers in Google case

National security technology blogger Bruce Schneier wrote recently that as part of their domestic spying campaign, the United States required internet providers to set up avenues for government surveillance used recently by some parties in China to breach the privacy of Google customers. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Opinion January 26, 2010 By Arthur Bright [...]

Foundation questions Obama administration openness about legal procedures for obtaining phone records

A Electronic Freedom Foundation senior attorney says a recent government report posits a new legal theory affirming the FBI’s right to obtain phone records without going through a legal process but does not provide the basis for the theory or even the statutory section number the FBI uses. -DB Electronic Freedom Foundation Commentary January 21, [...]