Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Authorization Act (FISA) was reauthorized Jan. 18 with a Senate vote of 65-34. Originally enacted in 2008, Section 702 provided the authorization for the warrantless surveillance program “that allows the NSA to collect texts and emails of foreigners abroad without an individualized warrant, even when they communicate with Americans in the U.S.,” explains... 

Previously undisclosed files leaked to the media by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden now show that the United States National Security Agency has been authorized to spy on persons in all but four countries. The Washington Post published on Monday official documents provided by Mr. Snowden that shows new proof concerning the extent of the NSA’s vast surveillance apparatus. One of the... 

The startling thing about Judge William Pauley III’s opinion is that it reads like an NSA press release or a Tom Clancy script. It begins: “The September 11th terrorist attacks revealed, in the starkest terms, just how dangerous and interconnected the world is. While Americans depended on technology for the conveniences of modernity, al-Qaeda plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology... 

The National Security Agency has publicly admitted to tracking the locations of literally billions of international cell phones under a 1981 executive order. To allay the fears of US citizens, it said the program only targets international phones. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden first leaked the information that such a practice happens up to 5 billion times each day, and functions by scooping... 

In a closed session, the US Senate Intelligence Committee approved draft legislation that would codify into law the NSA’s bulk collection of domestic telephone metadata. The bill, sponsored by committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), cements bulk phone metadata collection into the business records provision (Section 215) of the Patriot Act, strengthening NSA surveillance legality allowed under... 

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in the US has ruled that the National Security Agency can continue its secret collection of phone records of all American citizens. The secret court ruling was announced late Friday by the Office of James Clapper who is the Director of National Intelligence. “DNI Clapper has decided to declassify and disclose publicly that the government filed an application... 

It’s widely known that the NSA has taps connected to the various telco networks, thanks in large part to AT&T employee Mark Klein who blew the whistle on AT&T’s secret NSA room in San Francisco. What was unclear was exactly what kind of access the NSA had. Various groups like the EFF and CDT have both been asking the administration to finally come clean, in the name of transparency, if... 

A new report by the Daily Mail reveals Facebook users are abandoning the social media giant at an unprecedented rate over privacy concerns. New research shows Facebook has lost a total of eleven million users, nine million in the US and two million in Britain. Researchers at the University of Vienna analyzed 600 users and found they quit for the following reasons: Privacy concerns – 48.3 percent General... 

For years the National Security Agency has been violating restrictions and misusing the US domestic spying program that collected private data from US citizens, newly released declassified documents show. The new information from Intelligence Community Documents Regarding Collection under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) shows that the government on a daily basis spied... 

The Department of Justice told a federal court this week that the NSA’s spying “cannot be challenged in a court of law”. (This is especially dramatic given that numerous federal judges and legal scholars – including a former FISA judge – say that the FISA spying “court” is nothing but a kangaroo court.) Also this week, the Department of Justice told a federal court that the courts cannot... 

The Obama administration has renewed the authority for the National Security Agency to regularly collect the phone records of millions of Americans as allowed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The United States government has reportedly asked the FISA court every 90 days since 2006 to renew an order that compels the nation’s telecommunication providers to hand over telephony metadata... 

Microsoft’s general counsel has written to the US Attorney General Eric Holder saying that the secrecy regarding the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance is damaging the “constitutional principles” of America. Microsoft has asked the Obama administration to allow it to share details about how it responds to requests from the US government for user account data. Microsoft’s general counsel... 

Major US internet corporation Yahoo has announced that American law enforcement agencies had made between 12,000 and 13,000 demands for user data over past six months, in the latest case of tech firms admitting to their involvement in the massive US electronic spying bid. In an effort to restore confidence in its users after revelations of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) PRISM electronic surveillance... 

Federal detectives won’t need a warrant to eavesdrop on the emails and phone calls of Americans for another five years. President Obama reauthorized an intelligence gathering bill on Sunday that puts national security over constitutional rights. President Barack Obama inked his name over the weekend to an extension of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, a George W. Bush-era legislation that has allowed...