Appeals Court: NSA Call Metadata Program Was Illegal, Likely Unconstitutional

10 09 2020
EPIC
September 2, 2020

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled today that the NSA’s bulk collection of phone call metadata violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and was likely unconstitutional. EPIC and a coalition of groups filed an amicus brief in the case, United States v. Moalin, arguing that call metadata is protected under the Fourth Amendment. “We hold that the telephony metadata collection program exceeded the scope of Congress’s [FISA] authorization,” the Ninth Circuit wrote. The court rejected the argument that individuals lack a Fourth Amendment expectation of privacy in call metadata simply because the data is held by phone companies. The public is “likely to perceive as private several years’ worth of telephony metadata collected on an ongoing, daily basis—as demonstrated by the public outcry following the revelation of the metadata collection program,” the court explained. The court cited to the coalition amicus brief and to the work of EPIC advisory board member Laura K. Donohue. However, the court declined in this particular case to exclude the unlawfully collected metadata as evidence. In In re EPIC, EPIC petitioned the Supreme Court to end the NSA’s bulk phone record collection program, which occurred with the 2015 passage of the USA Freedom Act.

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Senate Amends FISA Reauthorization Bill, Sends Back to the House

19 08 2020
Epic
May 15, 2020

The Senate voted today to pass an amended version of the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020, which was passed by the House in March. The bill would end the NSA’s bulk telephone metadata program and make further reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Senate agreed this week to further amendments by Senators Lee and Leahy that expand FISA protections, but rejected amendments proposed by Senators Wyden and Daines that would have protected Americans’ internet browsing and search histories. The adopted Leahy/Lee amendment strengthens the role of “amici curiae,” who are independent, expert advisors to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, by increasing their access to information, their power to raise issues with the Court, and the number of cases they are appointed in. Since amendments were adopted, the bill now returns to the House of Representatives for consideration. Members of both parties have expressed support for reform of the controversial NSA surveillance program. EPIC closely tracks the use of FISA authority. EPIC has advocated for significant FISA reforms, and recently advised Congress to limit Section 702 surveillance and to allow Section 215 to expire.

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CLOUD Act Enacted, Allows Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad

27 03 2018

President Trump has signed the CLOUD Act, requiring internet companies to hand over personal data to U.S. law enforcement agencies, no matter where that data is stored. The Act also allows the executive branch to create agreements with foreign countries to provide direct access to personal data stored in the United States. EPIC submitted an amicus brief in United States v. Microsoft arguing that law enforcement access to data abroad should be resolved by international consensus and comply with human rights norms. Many organizations and privacy experts have endorsed the Madrid Privacy Declaration, which would establish international protections for personal data.

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DHS Privacy Office Releases 2016 Report, Secret Profiling on the Rise

3 02 2018

The Department of Homeland Security has released the 2016 Annual Data Mining Report. The report describes several of the agency’s profiling systems that assign secret “risk assessments” to U.S. citizens. According to the DHS report, the Analytical Framework for Intelligence is accessible to several agency components, including the Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Coast Guard, and the Transportation Security Administration. Through a Freedom of information Act lawsuit, EPIC previously obtained important documents about the secretive scoring program. EPIC is now appealing EPIC v. DHS to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to compel the release of additional documents.

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Government Argues for PRISM Reauthorization in New Report

3 02 2018

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released a report on the controversial Section 702 “PRISM” program, which is set to expire on December 31, 2017. The report argues for renewal, but significant questions remain about the PRISM program. Despite repeated requests from Congress, the ODNI has refused to reveal the number of U.S. persons who are swept up in PRISM surveillance every year. EPIC sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee urging public reporting of the Government’s surveillance activities. EPIC also warned that the Section 702 legal controversy could block international data transfers.

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The latest NSA leak is a reminder that your bosses can see your every move

29 01 2018

The case of Reality Winner, the 25-year-old woman arrested and accused of linking classified information, shows the limits of your privacy at work.

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Trump Nominee to Head Privacy Board Favors Warrantless Surveillance

23 01 2018

Donald Trump has nominated Adam Klein to head the Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). Klein, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, recently testified that Congress should not require agencies to obtain a court order to query data collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, facilitating warrantless surveillance. As Judge Patricia Wald recently stated in remarks at the EPIC Champions of Freedom Dinner, “an agency dedicated to protecting privacy and civil liberties inside the intelligence community with access to classified material is a uniquely valuable asset in the ever difficult search for the right balance between national security and democratic values.” EPIC recently urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to restore PCLOB to full strength.

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House Bill Expands Drone, Biometric, Communications Tracking at Border

21 01 2018

The House Homeland Security Committee passed H.R. 4548, the “Border Security for America Act,” which would dramatically expand surveillance capabilities along the northern and southern borders of the U.S. The bill seeks “to achieve situational awareness and operational control of the border,” with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), radar surveillance systems, license plate readers, and biometric databases. The Border Security Act would establish a biometric exit data system at US airports, seaports, and land ports. Biometric data would be combined with other Federal databases. The Privacy Act normally limits the government’s ability to collect personal data, but this bill would exempt the Department of Homeland Security from compliance with the Privacy Act. Previous EPIC FOIA lawsuits have revealed that border surveillance by drones would capture imagery, data, and wifi data of US citizens,

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Congress Renews Controversial Surveillance Measure, EU Impacted

19 01 2018

In a decision that could jeopardize relations with Europe, Congress has renewed “Section 702” of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits broad surveillance of individuals outside of the United States. The FISA Amendment Reauthorization Act also permits government surveillance of Americans and restarts the controversial “about” collection program. Congress rejected updates, including limits on data collection, that would preserve a privacy agreement between Europe and the United States. The European Court of Justice will also soon decide whether to allow data transfers from Ireland to the United States. EPIC served as the US NGO amicus curiae in that case.

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American Spies: how we got to mass surveillance without even trying

14 02 2017

Ars Technica

While American Spies was written prior to Donald Trump winning the 2016 presidential election, it has become vital and relevant under the new Republican administration.

Jennifer Stisa Granick is one of the premiere legal minds currently trying to grok the intersection between surveillance, privacy, and public policy. She serves as the Director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. Before that, she worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

In her book, Granick presents an expansive overview of the national-security legal landscape. However, despite being geared largely toward attorneys and academics, American Spies can be easily understood by anyone with even a passing familiarity with touchstone concepts that have graced the pages of Ars Technica in recent years, including Edward Snowden, Section 702, and Executive Order 12333.

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