NSA expands internet surveillance without congressional approval

[IronFist]

Report Obama team widened NSA warrantless monitoring of Internet traffic
Looks like the things got only worse. Just after the Patriot act became obsolete they introduced a new secret act abolishing all the good thing we were striving for. I don't want to live in a police state where our every step is being tracked. Is there any possible way to stop that nonsense?

 

[g5000]

Report Obama team widened NSA warrantless monitoring of Internet traffic
Looks like the things got only worse. Just after the Patriot act became obsolete they introduced a new secret act abolishing all the good thing we were striving for. I don't want to live in a police state where our every step is being tracked. Is there any possible way to stop that nonsense?

Start shooting politicians?





Excuse me. Someone is pounding on my door. OH! It's the FBI and they ar

 

[waltky]

Court asked to end NSA metadata collection program...

U.S. appeals court asked to halt NSA phone spying program
Wed Sep 2, 2015 - A U.S. appeals court appeared reluctant on Wednesday to put an immediate halt to the federal government's collection of millions of Americans' phone records, with the controversial spy program set to expire in November.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York previously found the program illegal in May, ruling that the Patriot Act did not authorize the National Security Agency to install such sweeping surveillance. The decision came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. At the time, the court noted that the relevant sections of the Patriot Act were set to expire on June 1 and declined to stop the program, saying Congress should have the opportunity to decide whether to permit it to continue.

Under the USA Freedom Act, which Congress passed in June, new privacy provisions take effect on Nov. 29 that will end the bulk collection, first disclosed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013. The program collects "metadata" such as the number dialed and the duration of calls but does not include their content. Arguments on Wednesday centered on whether the program may continue operating between now and November. Henry Whitaker, a lawyer for the Obama administration, told the three-judge panel that Congress clearly intended the collection to continue while the NSA transitions to the new system.

An illustration picture shows the logo of the U.S. National Security Agency on the display of an iPhone in Berlin

But Alex Abdo, an ACLU lawyer, said the statute explicitly extended the same Patriot Act provisions that the court concluded do not permit bulk collection. The judges expressed concern that, as Circuit Judge Robert Sack put it, halting the program would "short-circuit" a process already under way. Saying the ACLU had won a "historic achievement," Sack asked, "Why don’t you declare victory and withdraw?" Abdo said the ongoing collection harmed the ACLU's ability to confer with clients, such as whistleblowers, without worrying about whether the communications would be swept up by the NSA.

The Freedom Act requires companies like Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N) to collect metadata. Instead of feeding the data to intelligence agencies, the companies must do so only if a government request is approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The 2nd Circuit is the only appeals court to rule on the program's legality. Last week, an appeals court in Washington threw out a lower court's ruling that would have blocked the program, saying the plaintiffs had not shown their specific data was collected. The 9th Circuit in San Francisco is considering a similar challenge.

U.S. appeals court asked to halt NSA phone spying program

See also:

Lawyer for Palm Springs mayor expects 'swift conclusion' to FBI probe
Wed Sep 2, 2015 - A lawyer for the mayor of Palm Springs said on Wednesday that his client was willing to cooperate with authorities who raided city hall this week and expected any probe of his client's activities would be "swiftly closed."

FBI agents and members of a local public corruption task force descended on Palm Springs City Hall on Tuesday armed with search warrants, sending home employees and closing the offices for the day. Law enforcement agents also seized several items covered under the search warrants from the home of Mayor Steve Pougnet, according to an FBI spokeswoman.

The FBI and officials with the Inland Empire Public Corruption Task Force have declined to discuss the nature of the searches or reveal if Pougnet was the target of the investigation. No suspects were taken into custody during the raid and Pougnet, a 52-year-old Democrat who was first elected in 2007, has not been arrested or charged in the case. Attorney Malcolm Segal would not say if federal authorities had informed him or Pougnet that the mayor was under investigation.

A member of the media walks outside Palm Springs City Hall during a federal raid on the city's offices in Palm Springs, California

But Segal said his client was willing to cooperate with the investigation and that he expected it to be concluded quickly. "I just don't see any basis to believe, upon a careful and thorough review of Mr Pougnet's activities as the mayor of Palm Springs, that there can be any other conclusion than to believe that the matter should be swiftly closed," he said. The raid came roughly three months after the state's Fair Political Practices Commission opened a probe into links between Pougnet and a local real estate developer.

That move followed reports in the Desert Sun about the mayor's business relationships with that developer and an editorial saying he owed voters an explanation. In a post on his website in May, Pougnet responded that with the articles the newspaper "threw their hat in with the handful of politically motivated detractors who have made accusations about my job as a consultant and my integrity as your mayor." Pougnet said in that post he would not seek re-election in 2015.

Lawyer for Palm Springs mayor expects 'swift conclusion' to FBI probe