Earlier today, a federal district judge struck down the Bush Administration’s NSA surveillance program which involved intercepting international electronic communications without a warrant. The opinion is available here. I have not had time to read the opinion carefully yet, but I am especially intrigued by the court’s use of the First Amendment as one of the […]
Tag: Government Surveillance
Archive of all posts about government surveillance by Daniel J. Solove for his blog at TeachPrivacy, a privacy awareness and security training company.
Template for News Stories on Government Data Gathering
NSA warrantless wiretaps. NSA collection of phone records. CIA gathering of financial records. The stories are endless. To help out reporters, I thought I’d just write a quick and easy template to make reporting a little bit easier. So here it is:
Is There a Good Response to the “Nothing to Hide” Argument?
One of the most common attitudes of those unconcerned about government surveillance or privacy invasions is “I’ve got nothing to hide.” I was talking the issue over one day with a few colleagues in my field, and we all agreed that thus far, those emphasizing the value of privacy had not been able to articulate […]
Electronic Surveillance Statistics for 2005
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has released its annual report on the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders, Wiretap Act orders, and National Security Letters issued in 2005. For FISA surveillance orders, 2072 applications were made to the FISA court; none were denied. Over the past few years, the number of orders has been steadily increasing:
NSA Surveillance: No Limit
When it comes to surveillance for the Bush information, it appears that only the sky’s the limit. From the Washington Post [link no longer available]:
A Translation of Gonzales’s Answers at the NSA Surveillance Hearings
The NSA surveillance hearings began today with the testimony of Attorney General Gonzales. To save you the time to read through the extensive transcript (here and here), I thought I’d translate some of Gonzales’s remarks for you:
Gonzales’s Tortured Logic on NSA Surveillance
Attorney General Gozales brought out some new arguments in defense of the warrantless NSA surveillance program. He should have kept these arguments in the bag, as they are flatly wrong. For example, according to the AP:
Making Sense of Public Attitudes Toward NSA Surveillance
MSNBC journalist Bob Sullivan, in his blog Red Tape Chronicles, writes: Ask Americans something like, “Should the government be allowed to read e-mails and listen to phone calls to fight terrorism?” and you’ll get a much different result than if you ask, “Should the government be allowed to read your e-mails and listen to your phone […]
NSA Surveillance Whistleblower Russell Tice Speaks
In an interesting interview at Reason Online, NSA surveillance whistleblower Russell Tice explains what prompted him to speak out about the program:
Whistleblowing, Journalist Privilege, and NSA Surveillance
The DOJ has launched a probe into the leaking of the NSA surveillance program to the New York Times: “The leaking of classified information is a serious issue. The fact is that al-Qaida’s playbook is not printed on Page One and when America’s is, it has serious ramifications,” Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush was […]