Surveillance
680 Articles
Sunsets Need Sunshine: What We Can Learn from the USA Freedom Act
This afternoon, Congress, for the first time since 9/11, reined in national security surveillance authorities. It’s a historic moment, and a great victory for civil liberties,…
The Symbolic Sunset & What’s Next for the USA Freedom Act
Because the gods of traffic metrics are stern taskmasters, you’ll likely read a lot of headlines today about “the expiration of the Patriot Act,” possibly paired…
Mootness and the 215 Challenges
As a nerdy follow-up to the stories about last night’s expiration of section 215, I thought I’d say a quick word about how that denouement will affect the ongoing litigation…
Chris Soghoian on What’s Wrong With the Debate on Section 215
It’s great that the sunset of Section 215 has reignited the debate about mass surveillance in the United States, but all the focus on this one provision, more specifically on…
The Patriot Act’s Sunset Recess
The Senate entered its Memorial Day recess without passing either a Patriot Act extension or a reform bill along the lines of the Freedom Act. Amid intense congressional wrangling…
Scaremongering about the Patriot Act Sunset
The Capitol Dome. Image Credit: Architect of the Capitol. In a last-ditch effort to scare lawmakers into preserving unpopular and much-abused surveillance authorities, the Senate…
Sen. Paul’s Great Surveillance ‘Filibuster’ and What to Expect Next
Senator Rand Paul, joined by Senator Wyden and other surveillance reform advocates, as well as five members of the House of Representatives, spent much of last night on the Senate…
German Cooperation With NSA Spies Broader Than We Knew
Late last month Der Spiegel reported that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, participated in and directly supported the National Security…
ACLU v. Clapper Will End the Telephone Dragnet
Last week’s dramatic Second Circuit decision in ACLU v. Clapper, invalidated the alleged legal basis for the NSA domestic phone call dragnet, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act,…
Tightening the National Security Ratchet
A ratchet is a device that employs mechanical impediments to allow movement in only one direction. As such, it is a useful metaphor for national security policy, where restrictive…
United States v. Davis – Wrestling With the Third Party Doctrine
In the excitement over the Second Circuit’s ruling on the NSA’s bulk collection program, another very significant appellate decision that was issued last week has been largely…
What ACLU v. Clapper Means
Many others have already weighed in about the significance of last week’s ruling in ACLU v. Clapper. Here are my own quick thoughts. As regular readers of this blog already know,…