Civil Liberties
1,361 Articles
PCLOB Hearing on NSA Review
Today the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is holding a public hearing on recommended changes to surveillance programs authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act and…
We Are All Foreign Nationals — Even Orin Kerr
The always thought-provoking Orin Kerr has responded, on Lawfare, to my plea here for respecting the privacy rights of foreign nationals. Kerr finds my arguments unpersuasive,…
Steve Vladeck Mention on Colbert Report
[Editorial note: Earlier this week, Co-Editor-in-Chief Steve Vladeck testified during the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s open hearing on the NSA and FISA…
Trick or Treat?: New FISA “Reform” Legislation Passes Senate Intelligence Committee
Earlier this week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressed outrage that “the Senate Intelligence Committee was not satisfactorily informed” of the NSA’s surveillance…
La Plus Ça Change: A Look Back at Intelligence Gathering Reform
“To understand the past in order to better propose guidance for the future” -Church Commission (1976) Today’s report that the NSA has been tapping into Google and Yahoo data…
On Trees Falling Silently in Oversight Forests: Three Reflections on Yesterday’s HPSCI Hearing
Although it’s been overtaken by subsequent events, I thought I’d post some reflections on yesterday’s rare open hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee…
Live Feed of HPSCI Hearing on Potential Changes to FISA [Update: hearing now complete]
[Update (5:15 pm): The HPSCI Hearing on Potential Changes to FISA is now complete. Recorded video of the hearing testimony is provided below in two parts, due to the length of…
We Are All Foreigners: NSA Spying and the Rights of Others
The New York Times reports today that President Obama is expected to ban eavesdropping on the phones of our allies’ presidents and prime ministers. There is no indication,…
My Written Statement for Tomorrow’s HPSCI “NSA Programs” Hearing
Tomorrow afternoon beginning at 1:30, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”) is holding a rare open hearing, the subject of which is “NSA…
Hands Off Encryption! Say New Amici Briefs in Lavabit Case
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is in the process of deciding the first legal challenge to government seizure of the master encryption keys that secure our communications with…
Ghailani: Constitutional “Cross-Ruffing,” and Why I Worry…
I’ve now had a chance to read yesterday’s Second Circuit decision in Ghailani, affirming the conviction of the one terrorism suspect transferred from Guantánamo to…
Laura Donohue’s Comprehensive Case Against Bulk Metadata Collection
Our good friend and Georgetown Law Professor Laura Donohue has been kind enough to share with us an advance draft of her latest article, “Bulk Metadata Collection: Statutory…