EFF Asks Court to Compel Release of Government Records on Surveillance of Emails and Calls
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit against the Department of Justice Thursday, asking for answers about “illegal email and telephone call surveillance” conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). EFF cites a July letter from a government official to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in which the group says the government acknowledged that NSA surveillance had gone further than is permitted by the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008. EFF brought the action in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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EFF said in its complaint it had sought the information under the federal Freedom of Information Act, but the government had “wrongfully” withheld records (http://bit.ly/PAN0yb). EFF asked the court to compel release of the records “in their entirety.” DOJ had no comment by our deadline.
"For years we've seen news reports in the New York Times and other outlets about widespread government spying going beyond the broad powers granted in the FAA, but we've yet to get any real answers about what is going on,” said EFF Open Government Legal Fellow Mark Rumold. “When law-breaking is allowed to remain secret, there’s no accountability or way to monitor future abuses. It’s time for the government to come clean and tell us about the NSA’s unconstitutional actions."
Wyden and other senators sent Director of National Intelligence James Clapper a letter in late July asking for information on how many Americans have been subject to surveillance under the FAA, as the Senate takes up reauthorization (http://xrl.us/bnnrpw). “We are concerned that Congress and the public do not currently have a full understanding of the impact that this law has had on the privacy of law-abiding Americans,” the senators wrote. The surveillance provisions are set to sunset Dec. 31 unless Congress takes action.
"As Congress gears up to reconsider the FAA, the American public needs to know how the law has been misused,” said EFF Senior Counsel David Sobel. “The DOJ should follow the law and release this information to the American public."