Victory for the US constitution.
Dear Buzz Gang and Crew,
There was a recent ruling by a US District Judge: Vaughn R Walker in the case of Al-Haramain vs Bush in which the NSA, under the Bush Administration, was ruled to have illegally wired taped the religious organization of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in order to obtain information related to possible terroristic activities.
For those who may not know, not long after 9/11/2001, the Bush Administration under executive order with the support of Congress permitted the NSA and FBI to perform warrantless wiretapping on U.S. citizens. This activity was approved during the time when the FAA had ordered all domestics and international flights in and out of the United States to be halted, which was a first in aviation history.
Bottomline:
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NSA no longer has the authority to wiretap U.S. citizens without a warrant.
Good & Bad:
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The original charter of the NSA was the control of the communications intelligence activities of
the United States conducted against foreign governments. They have drifted from that charter a great deal. This ruling puts them back into that focus.
On the other hand, there needs to be a redefining or update to the laws governing telecommunications and wiretapping. Most of the laws involved in this activity were written in the 1950's and 60's and are out-of-date for the modern communications era that we are in now. The NSA, FBI, and CIA are hampered by primitive telecommunications laws which do not cover the sophisticated intelligence gathering techniques that are done today.
US District Judge Vaughn Walker maintained our protections as American citizens but government agencies need clearer and better written laws so that they can continue to perform their intelligence and information gathering.
Later People. :-I
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/52735
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20100405.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#cite_note-153
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/02/warantless_wiretapping_defeat/
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/04/06/1375643/los-angeles-times-the-limits-of.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033102442.html

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