nsa

Secret FISA court won't release wiretap rulings

A shadowy federal court that meets behind closed doors to hear wiretapping requests says it won't publicly release even portions of its rulings.

In response to a formal request from the ACLU, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said on Tuesday that it won't divulge the abridged text of the orders dealing with the Bush administration's eavesdropping scheme on grounds that it could endanger national security.

The 24-page opinion (PDF) disagreed with the Bush administration's suggestion that the ACLU's request be necessarily dismissed out of hand. But after considering the request, the court rejected it on … Read more

Declassified docs show fight over surveillance, telecom immunity

The Bush administration has released formerly classified documents that show how it is pressing Congress to rewrite surveillance law and immunize telecommunications companies from lawsuits.

What's also interesting about the documents, which were released in response to the Freedom of Information Act on Monday, is how much is redacted. Entire pages have been excised, in one case leaving only two paragraphs visible.

A few highlights from the the files (1 and 2) obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation after a court battle:

• Pages 6-8 of file 1: National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell told Congress three months ago that … Read more

Bush administration forced to turn over spying documents by Friday

A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to divulge documents related to immunizing telecommunications companies from lawsuits, saying they illegally opened their networks to the National Security Agency.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco gave the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until November 30 (Friday) to turn over documents relating to conversations it had with Congress and telecommunications carriers about how to rewrite wiretapping laws.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation had filed this case to seek faster processing of a Freedom of Information Act request it filed, which could help buttress its ongoing lawsuit against … Read more

Appeals court's ruling may aid spy suits against AT&T, Verizon

A federal appeals court may have given a boost on Friday to high-profile lawsuits alleging that AT&T and other telecommunications companies illegally opened their networks to the National Security Agency.

In a case involving an Islamic charity, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it would be premature to pull the plug on the group's lawsuit based on the Bush administration's fears that court proceedings would necessarily disclose "state secrets."

That case is called Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. President Bush. It's unusual because the now-defunct foundation reportedly found, as the result of … Read more

What's the NSA doing in your e-mail?

A former technician is hauling communications giant AT&T into court for sharing "email, search, and Internet records for more than a dozen other global and regional telecommunications providers." If it's true, the company may have massively violated federal privacy and industry law, and the National Security Administration may have acted in direct violation of legal parameters governing its domestic surveillance mission. Read the full story at The Washington Post.

Secure instant messaging for the masses

With the majority of the Democrats caving in to the Bush administration's demands for full immunity for the telecom companies for-profit collusion in the NSA's illegal wiretapping program, it seems to be clear that the Fourth Amendment and federal antiwiretapping laws are no longer enough to keep our communications secure. Laws stating that "thou shalt not listen to your customers phone calls" no longer seem to have any bite. Or at least, they don't as long as teleco lobbying coupled with massive political contributions can turn once critical senators into kindly old men willing to … Read more

House Democrats back away from wiretap reform plan

In the face of a presidential veto threat, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed off a scheduled vote Wednesday on legislation designed to limit warrantless wiretapping.

The Democratic acquiescence was a victory for President Bush, who said last week that the proposal was unacceptable to him.

Opposition had come from both sides. Republicans had savaged the proposal as harmful to national security. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said on Wednesday that the delay was "bad news for Osama bin Laden and other terrorists," thereby illustrating McCullagh's Law in action. Meanwhile, privacy advocates, including the American … Read more

NSA rings up a secure (and rugged) smartphone

Finally, here's a phone plan that allows you to switch from the U.S. government's Secret Internet Protocol Router Network to the Unclassified but Sensitive Internet Protocol Router Network with a single keystroke.

The National Security Agency has authorized military and government personnel to order up a bunch of General Dynamics' Sectera Edge secure, wireless smartphones, which will not only allow them to make secure calls but also to e-mail and Web-browse in either classified or unclassified mode.

The phones will still operate right along with everyone else on the existing high-speed Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), … Read more

Should AT&T be held responsible for NSA cooperation?

The Bush administration's remarks about retroactive legal protection for telecommunications companies show Washington has become an even more surreal place than usual.

First, President Bush said on Wednesday that federal law "must grant liability protection to companies who are facing multi-billion-dollar lawsuits only because they are believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our nation following the 9/11 attacks."

Then Ken Wainstein, the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, waxed eloquent with a surfeit of "allegedlys":

Here you have allegedly companies that stepped up and answered the government's request … Read more