Domestic Surveillance
295 Articles
UN Human Rights Committee’s Report on US Compliance with the ICCPR: National Security Highlights
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has issued its Concluding Observations (full text) assessing US compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights…
Some Questions About the President’s Phone-Records Proposal
In the New York Times, Charlie Savage reports that the administration intends to propose legislation that would end the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records. The legislation…
An End to Dragnet Surveillance?
The New York Times report that President Obama will call for an end to the bulk collection of American’s telephone metadata is yet further vindication for Edward Snowden in particular,…
President Obama Will Seek to Curb (End?) Section 215 Bulk Collection
In a story being reported this evening by Charlie Savage of The New York Times, it appears that President Obama is preparing to announce a legislative proposal that will seek…
DiFi vs CIA
More than a few folks have commented on the irony of Sen. Dianne Feinstein—perhaps the most vigorous defender of NSA’s controversial surveillance programs—flipping into…
How President Obama can fulfill his promise to end bulk collection of telephone metadata, while preserving intelligence capabilities
On January 17, President Obama promised to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of metadata on Americans’ phone calls under “section 215” (which is really…
The Elephant in the Room: The FBI
Commissions, oversight boards, and review groups are all the rage these days. Recent weeks have seen hundreds of pages of reports evaluating American intelligence agencies, and…
The Myth of NSA Omnipotence
The world’s foremost software engineers and cryptographers are gearing up to take on the National Security Agency (NSA), hoping to develop and implement technological solutions…
Who Watches the Watchers?–A Rejoinder to Steve Vladeck
I am grateful for Steve’s careful response to my post, “Democratic Platitudes,” which examined his original post, “Does Espionage Porn Make Us Stronger?” Having benefited…
RightsCon, March 3-5, San Francisco
Further to all our coverage of the use and abuse of digital technologies, I commend RightsCon to our readers—a gathering of the Silicon Valley (and beyond) tech community, digital…
Bart Gellman’s NSL
Politico has published a short piece based on an interview with Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman, who says he’s been told that at some point his telephone records…
The NSA’s Culture of “Legal Compliance” Still Breaks the Law
Lately the NSA has been on a public relations offensive that has two principal aims. First, the agency is trying to convince the public that a lot of the NSA’s bad press is based…