Court Revives NSA Dragnet Surveillance Case

Court Revives NSA Dragnet Surveillance Case

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A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated a closely watched lawsuit accusing the federal government of working with the nation’s largest telecommunication companies to illegally funnel Americans’ electronic communications to the National Security Agency without court warrants.

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While the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the long-running case brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the three-judge panel unanimously refused to rule on the merits of the case, or whether it was true the United States breached the public’s Fourth Amendment rights by undertaking an ongoing dragnet surveillance program the EFF said commenced under the Bush administration following 9/11.

Writing for the majority on Thursday, Judge Margaret McKeown ruled (.pdf) that the EFF’s claims “are not abstract, generalized grievances and instead meet the constitutional standing requirement of concrete injury. Although there has been considerable debate and legislative activity surrounding the surveillance program, the claims do not raise a political question nor are they inappropriate for judicial resolution.”

This stems from the infamous AT&T case back several years whereby they cooperted with the NSA for a domestic surveillance program. Highly illegal considering the violation of the 4th amendment. I really liked this part :

The appeals court sided with an act of Congress from July 2008, one voted for by then-Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, and then signed by President George W. Bush. The legislation handed the telcos retroactive immunity from being sued for allegedly participating in the surveillance program.

That led Judge Walker to toss the case against AT&T and others. The EFF contended on appeal that the legislation, which grants the president the power to grant immunity to the telcos, was an unlawful abuse of power.

By passing the retroactive immunity for the telecoms’ complicity in the warrantless wiretapping program, Congress abdicated its duty to the American people,” EFF senior staff attorney Kurt Opsahl said. “It is disappointing that today’s decision endorsed the rights of telecommunications companies over those over their customers.”

That said, the Bush administration, and now the Obama administration, have neither admitted nor denied the spying allegations — though Bush did admit that the government warrantlessly listened in on some Americans’ overseas phone calls, which he said was legal. But as to widespread internet and phone dragnet surveillance of Americans, both administrations have declared the issue a state secret — one that would undermine national security if exposed.

Basically a nice get out of jail free card for those in the know. Yes all done under the guise of thwarting those big bad terrorists but screw any notion to entitled privacy. I'm a big privacy advocate and it saddens me when folks make light of this with comments like 'well if you have nothing to hide, then don't worry' or 'my life is boring let them view what they want'. This is wrong and I point to a really good article by noted cryptographer, writer and security specialist on the value of privacy, a good read.

The Value of Privacy

brill

www.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Privacy of or person is fast dissapearing the way our freedoms went........
There will be nobody in a position to oppose the goverment without legal penalties soon.
There is virtually thousands of back door ways of screwing anyone no matter how innocent they are.......
It is patently obvious to anyone who has had any kind of dealings with the courts that the whole guilty /innocent buush*t is so arbitrary as to be meaningless anymore.....
The truth is that there are so many legalities that if they wish to destroy your life they can do so with alacrity.
They will face no disciplinary actions or jail time.
The system is streamlined to incarcerate or strip the person caught up in it (however innocent or well intentioned)
Of their wealth or their reputation or both.
There is no justice for those who make less than 250,000 a year or more.....
All laws need to be simple and straight forward, easily understood by all, and reasonable.
Its time we overhauled the whole bunch and turned the PTB into the powers that were..........

reply to post by brill


I had a slight glimmer of hope until I saw the 9th circus show of appeals is involved. They are the most overturned appeals circuit there is, and im sure this will go that way as well.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by brill

 

I had a slight glimmer of hope until I saw the 9th circus show of appeals is involved. They are the most overturned appeals circuit there is, and im sure this will go that way as well.

"9th circus" ..... I like that
I would say you're correct though, this doesn't bode well.

brill