Fourth Amendment

See the following -

How Hackers Beat the NSA In The ’90s and Can Do It Again

Gregory Ferenstein | TechCrunch | June 28, 2013

While the world parses the ramifications of the National Security Agency’s massive snooping operation, it’s important to remember an earlier government attempt at data collection and, more important, how a group of hackers and activists banded together to stop it. Read More »

3 NSA Veterans Speak Out On Whistle-Blower: We Told You So

Peter Eisler and Susan Page | USA Today | June 16, 2012

In a roundtable discussion, a trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers tell USA TODAY that Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed. Read More »

A Secret Court Making Secret Laws? That's No Democracy

Mike Masnick | Techdirt | July 8, 2013

Last December, well before the Ed Snowden leaks revealed some information about the FISA court (FISC) and its rulings, we had already noted that the court itself was almost certainly unconstitutional. Read More »

Academics Agree MIT Should Have Done More For Aaron Swartz

Robinson Meyer | The Atlantic | August 7, 2013

In late July, MIT issued its report, written by computer science professor Hal Abelson, on the university's own actions in the Aaron Swartz case. Swartz, an information activist, faced extensive charges for downloading a huge number of academic articles from the online service JSTOR over MIT's network. Swartz committed suicide in January. Read More »

Do You Want The Government Buying Your Data From Corporations?

Bruce Schneier | The Atlantic | April 30, 2013

A new bill moving through Congress would give the authorities unprecedented access to citizens' information. Read More »

Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.’s

Scott Shane and Colin Moynihan | New York Times | September 1, 2013

For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls — parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency’s hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. Read More »

Drug Cops Want Open Access To Your Medical Records

Radley Balko | Washington Post | January 24, 2014

stories about ADHD drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, a number of politicians, pundits, and public health activists have demanded better monitoring of doctors and patients. [...] Read More »

Federal ‘Biosurveillance’ Plan Seeking Direct Access To Americans’ Private Medical Records

Barbara Hollingsworth | CNSNews.com | May 20, 2014

The federal government is piecing together a sweeping national “biosurveillance” system that will give bureaucrats near real-time access to Americans’ private medical information in the name of national security, according to Twila Brase, a public health nurse and co-founder of the Citizens Council for Health Freedom.  

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FISA Passes: Warrantless Wiretapping Will Live On

Alexander Abad-Santos | The Atlantic Wire | December 28, 2012

In a move sure to upset privacy advocates across the country, and perhaps spark action from the Supreme Court, the Senate on Friday morning passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by a vote of 73-23 and will send it to President Obama's desk for signature. [...] Read More »

Government Privacy Board Endorses NSA's Internet Spying

Brendan Sasso | Nextgov.com | July 2, 2014

The National Security Agency's Internet surveillance programs are legal and effective, according to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent watchdog agency. In a draft report, the panel expresses concern with certain elements of the NSA's massive collection of Internet data within the United States, and outlines several reforms it says would bolster privacy protections and improve transparency.

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Homeland Security Wants to More Than Double Its Predator Drone Fleet Inside The US, Despite Safety And Privacy Concerns

Trevor Timm | Electronic Frontier Foundation | November 20, 2012

Despite renewed criticism from both parties in Congress that domestic drones pose a privacy danger to US citizens—and a report from its own Inspector General recommending to stop buying them—the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has indicated it wants to more than double its fleet of Predator drones used to fly surveillance missions inside the United States. Read More »

How Snowden's Email Provider Plans To Build An NSA-Proof Communications Tool

Conor Friedersdorf | The Atlantic | November 5, 2013

Ladar Levison intends to offer a product with world-class cryptography and a user interface simple enough for a grandmother to master. Read More »

How The FISA Amendments Act Allows For Warrantless Wiretapping, As Described By Supreme Court Justices

Trevor Timm | Electronic Frontier Foundation | October 30, 2012

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Clapper v. Amnesty, an important case that will decide if the ACLU’s challenge to the FISA Amendments Act—the law passed in the wake of the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal—can go forward. Read More »

If PRISM Is Good Policy, Why Stop With Terrorism?

Derek Khanna | The Atlantic | July 4, 2013

Defenders of the program say its effectiveness excuses it -- but they ignore the Fourth Amendment. Read More »

In Depth Review: New NSA Documents Expose How Americans Can Be Spied On Without A Warrant

Kurt Opsahl and Trevor Timm | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | June 21, 2013

The Guardian published a new batch of secret leaked FISA court and NSA documents yesterday, which detail the particulars of how government has been accessing Americans’ emails without a warrant, in violation of the Constitution. [...] Read More »