Category: fisa

Judge rules FBI, NSA broke the law or court orders with data collection

[ad_1] That last query was the result of a flawed system, an FBI official said in a briefing. Info appeared in a “preview pane” in such a way that workers were searching without realizing they were sifting through data they weren’t supposed to see. The FBI took steps to prevent that from happening again, the […]

Yes, the Patriot Act amendment to track us online is real

[ad_1] Interestingly, one “Big Browser” company has a feature that’s a useful tool in this context. Like the way Apple can’t “read” your iPhone’s data (specifically, Apple can’t decrypt it), Google can only share what it can “read.” You can password protect your Chrome data by following the instructions here.  Anyway, to validate the concerns […]

Senate passes Patriot Act amendment strengthening independent oversight

[ad_1] Fifty-nine members of the Senate just voted in favor of my amendment to block warrantless government surveillance of Americans’ browser history. It failed by just one vote. McConnell is that much closer to giving Bill Barr the green light to spy on Americans’ private information. https://t.co/IV5ERbte48 — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) May 13, 2020 The […]

US House votes to extend FISA surveillance

[ad_1] But the bill would do more than just extend the provisions’ validity. Since surveillance laws tend to raise privacy concerns, the bill would add new restrictions to the FISA court overseeing requests for surveillance warrants. It would also bring changes to FISA wiretaps in response to the backlash the feds got for wiretapping former […]

Bipartisan bill would scale back key section of the Patriot Act

[ad_1] While there are a variety of facets to the bill, the most significant aspect of it is that it would prohibit the warrantless collection of cell-site and GPS geolocation data, as well as internet browsing and search history by US intelligence agencies. Additionally, the bill would eliminate the relevance clause that had allowed the […]

Court says data swept up by the NSA is protected by the Fourth Amendment

[ad_1] Government attorneys had argued that the Constitution didn’t address the use of private email and phone call data. The US had charged Hasbajrami in 2011 with providing material support to a terrorist group in Pakistan, and the suspect initially pleaded guilty to one of the charges after his counsel told him that there were […]

The NSA says it stopped tracking cellphone locations without a warrant

[ad_1] Last year the Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that a search warrant is required for law enforcement to perform cellphone tower searches to track someone’s location. The Daily Beast reported on a letter sent by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to Senator Ron Wyden affirming that ever since […]