Surveillance
680 Articles
David Miranda detention and questioning was lawful, rules UK High Court
The UK High Court has dismissed a challenge brought by David Miranda, partner of Glenn Greenwald, that he was unlawfully detained and questioned for nine hours at Heathrow airport…
A Rejoinder from Jenks and Corn re U.S. SIGINT Based Targeting
There is probably no area of greater consensus between us and Professors Goodman and Jinks (their post) than the recognition that the law of armed conflict should and must be responsive…
Military Targeting Based on Cellphone Location
A recent news story by Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill details the use of NSA signals intelligence (SIGINT) – including cellphone and SIM card data – to locate and kill…
Eyes Wide Shut: Scahill and Greenwald’s Flawed Critique of U.S. SIGINT Based Targeting
[Editor’s Note: Stay tuned later today for a post by Ryan Goodman and Derek Jinks responding to the guest post by Chris Jenks and Geoffrey Corn.] In The NSA’s Secret Role in…
Eight Questions PCLOB Should Ask About Section 702
Tomorrow, all five members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about their recent report concluding that…
Office of the DNI Releases List of Permissible Uses of Data Collected in Bulk
If you’ll recall last month, in conjunction with his January 17th speech on U.S. signals intelligence reform, President Obama issued Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-28…
Where’s the “Metadata”?: What Greenwald and Scahill (Don’t) Say about NSA Metadata Collection and Lethal Targeting
There are many, many important revelations about NSA’s involvement in the US drone program in Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill’s historic debut story for First Look…
What the No Fly List Teaches Us About Big Data
Shirin beat me to the punch in her excellent discussion of the court’s order in the first-ever no fly list case to be decided on the merits (an issue I previously discussed here).…
Two Developments re Section 215: (i) Changes to the Section 215 Program and (ii) Program’s Scope is Currently More Limited than Originally Thought
In his speech last month on the U.S. signals intelligence programs, President Obama “directed the Attorney General to work with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court…
Letter to the Editor: Schrödinger’s Metadata
Earlier this week, Charles A. Blanchard floated a provocative idea: “As strange as it may seem, quantum mechanics might help us illuminate the best approach to restrictions on…
“The NSA Doesn’t Spy On Americans”
Over at Lawfare, Ben Wittes is making excuses for the intelligence officials who’ve been saying the NSA doesn’t spy on Americans. Ben acknowledges the statement is false—“not…
Can Congress Protect Digital Privacy from NSA Spying?
[Editor’s Note: The House Judiciary Committee hearing can be viewed live on C-SPAN.org] Today, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct a hearing on recommendations to…