Civil Liberties
1,361 Articles
Latest Snowden Documents Show NSA Tracks Americans’ Cell Location Data
Today’s Washington Post report that the National Security Agency (NSA) is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world should light…
Is the Draft UN Resolution on the Right to Privacy a Trojan Horse for Libertarians?
In response to recent revelations of NSA foreign surveillance programs, the UN General Assembly appears poised to adopt a Resolution on the international right to privacy. Because…
Transcript of Oral Argument in ACLU v. Clapper
We’ve finally got a transcript from the Nov. 22 hearing in ACLU v. Clapper, the ACLU’s challenge to the NSA’s mass call-tracking program. The transcript is here. Particularly…
Square Peg, Round Hole – How the FISC has misapplied FISA to Allow for Bulk Metadata Collection
The recent treasure trove of NSA documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence included an opinion by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that…
NSA SEXINT is the Abuse You’ve All Been Waiting For
In the latest news report based on documents revealed by Edward Snowden, we’ve learned that the NSA creates profiles of porn viewing, online sexual activity and more from its…
Milanovic on an Extraterritorial Right to Privacy
In light of recent “revelations” that the NSA–like its counterpart espionage agencies around the globe–engages in surveillance of many people overseas,…
ACLU Sues CIA for Release of Torture Reports
Yesterday, the ACLU filed a FOIA lawsuit to compel the CIA to disclose two reports on the CIA’s post-9/11 detention and interrogation programs. The full complaint can…
Center for National Security Studies’ Latest Filing for Amici Curiae in Section 215 Proceedings
On Friday, the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS) filed its latest pleading in its efforts to have the FISC enable third-party persons or organizations to submit amici…
Constitutional Advocates in Comparative Perspective
A number of proposed amendments aimed at reforming the FISA Court envisage a Constitutional Advocate or similar role. Marty Lederman and Steve Vladeck posted earlier here on…
The FISC’s Problematic Pen/Trap Opinion on Bulk Internet Metadata Collection
The latest round of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions released under the Freedom of Information Act includes what, for many surveillance wonks, has been the white…
Dahlia Lithwick and Me on Why Metadata Matters
I suspect we’ll have a lot more to say about today’s oral argument in New York in the ACLU’s challenge to the government’s “telephony metadata”…
New FISC Pen Register Opinion: It’s Just a Matter of Time Before Somebody Gets Hurt
Once again, the NSA has conducted illegal spying. New documents reveal the National Security Agency’s (NSA) systemic violation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)…