Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

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23 European Cloud Technology Companies form the European Cloud Industrial Alliance (EUCLIDIA)

Press Release | EUCLIDIA | July 8, 2021

Today, 23 European companies have announced the creation of the European Cloud Industrial Alliance (EUCLIDIA) formed by independent European original technology manufacturers, for the promotion of digital independence and strategic autonomy...EUCLIDIA will carry the voice of European cloud technology innovators. Its members are all European-based with the majority of shareholders being European. Its mission is to provide lawmakers and policy makers with the field expertise and vision that will reinforce policies that accelerate the adoption and development of leading cloud technologies made in Europe. Such policies should reflect European values such as the protection of privacy and the promotion of fair competition while enabling European cloud industries to be competitive.

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A Secret Court Making Secret Laws? That's No Democracy

Mike Masnick | Techdirt | July 8, 2013

Last December, well before the Ed Snowden leaks revealed some information about the FISA court (FISC) and its rulings, we had already noted that the court itself was almost certainly unconstitutional. Read More »

Did You Know John Roberts Is Also Chief Justice Of The NSA’s Surveillance State?

Ezra Klein | Washington Post | July 5, 2013

The 11 FISA judges, chosen from throughout the federal bench for seven-year terms, are all appointed by the chief justice. In fact, every FISA judge currently serving was appointed by Roberts, who will continue making such appointments until he retires or dies. FISA judges don’t need confirmation — by Congress or anyone else... Read More »

DOJ Says Public Has No Right To Know About The Secret Laws The Feds Use To Spy On Us

Mike Masnick | Techdirt | July 8, 2013

So, we were just discussing the insanity of the FISA court (FISC) basically acting as a shadow Supreme Court, making broad rulings in total secrecy that have created a secret body of law that the public is not allowed to know about. Read More »

Don’t Listen To Google And Facebook: The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership Is Still Going Strong

Bruce Schneier | The Atlantic | March 25, 2014

If you’ve been reading the news recently, you might think that corporate America is doing its best to thwart NSA surveillance. Google just announced that it is encrypting Gmail when you access it from your computer or phone, and between data centers.

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Federal Judge Allows EFF's NSA Mass Spying Case To Proceed

Press Release | Electronic Frontier Foundation | July 8, 2013

A federal judge today rejected the U.S. government's latest attempt to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) long-running challenge to the government's illegal dragnet surveillance programs. Today's ruling means the allegations at the heart of the Jewel case move forward under the supervision of a public federal court. Read More »

Feds Put Heat On Web Firms For Master Encryption Keys

Declan McCullagh | CNET | July 24, 2013

Whether the FBI and NSA have the legal authority to obtain the master keys that companies use for Web encryption remains an open question, but it hasn't stopped the U.S. government from trying. Read More »

FISA Passes: Warrantless Wiretapping Will Live On

Alexander Abad-Santos | The Atlantic Wire | December 28, 2012

In a move sure to upset privacy advocates across the country, and perhaps spark action from the Supreme Court, the Senate on Friday morning passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by a vote of 73-23 and will send it to President Obama's desk for signature. [...] Read More »

Government Privacy Board Endorses NSA's Internet Spying

Brendan Sasso | Nextgov.com | July 2, 2014

The National Security Agency's Internet surveillance programs are legal and effective, according to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent watchdog agency. In a draft report, the panel expresses concern with certain elements of the NSA's massive collection of Internet data within the United States, and outlines several reforms it says would bolster privacy protections and improve transparency.

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How The FISA Amendments Act Allows For Warrantless Wiretapping, As Described By Supreme Court Justices

Trevor Timm | Electronic Frontier Foundation | October 30, 2012

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Clapper v. Amnesty, an important case that will decide if the ACLU’s challenge to the FISA Amendments Act—the law passed in the wake of the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal—can go forward. Read More »

In Depth Review: New NSA Documents Expose How Americans Can Be Spied On Without A Warrant

Kurt Opsahl and Trevor Timm | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | June 21, 2013

The Guardian published a new batch of secret leaked FISA court and NSA documents yesterday, which detail the particulars of how government has been accessing Americans’ emails without a warrant, in violation of the Constitution. [...] Read More »

In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers Of N.S.A.

Eric Lichtblau | The New York Times | July 6, 2013

In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks, officials say. Read More »

Lawmakers Re-Introduce GPS Protection Bill Against Government Spying

Cyrus Farivar | Ars Technica | March 21, 2013

Just two days after new legislative reform on e-mail privacy was re-introduced in Congress, another privacy bill was brought back from years past. Read More »

NSA Surveillance Program Reaches ‘Into The Past’ To Retrieve, Replay Phone Calls

Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani | The Washington Post | March 18, 2014

The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden.

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Snowden Saw What I Saw: Surveillance Criminally Subverting The Constitution

Thomas Drake | The Guardian | June 12, 2013

What Edward Snowden has done is an amazingly brave and courageous act of civil disobedience. Read More »