In re EPIC – NSA Telephone Records Surveillance
From the webpage:
“It is simply not possible that every phone record in the possession of a telecommunications firm could be relevant to an authorized investigation. Such an interpretation of Section 1861 would render meaningless the qualifying phrases contained in the provision and eviscerate the purpose of the Act.” – EPIC Mandamus Petition
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Factual Background
The Verizon Order
On June 5, 2013, a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) order allowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and the National Security Agency (“NSA”) to obtain vast amounts of telephone call data of Verizon customers was made public. The order, issued April 25, 2013, does not link this data collection to any specific target or investigation, but instead grants sweeping authority compelling Verizon to produce to the NSA “all call detail records or ‘telephony metadata’ created by Verizon for communications (i) between the United States and abroad; or (ii) wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls.” As a result, the NSA collected the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers, including those who only make calls to other U.S. numbers. Senator Diane Feinstein, Chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has confirmed that this FISC Order is part of an ongoing electronic communications surveillance program that has been reauthorized since 2007. EPIC is a Verizon customer, and has been for the entire period the FISC Order has been in effect. Because the FISC Order compels disclosure of “all call detail records,” EPIC’s telephone metadata are subject to the order and have been disclosed to the NSA.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court vacate the Verizon order. In legal terms, the Supreme Court is being asked to issue a writ of mandamus, that is an order to the FISC court to vacate its Verizon order and one assumes to no violate U.S. law in the future.
The EPIC effort is one step in a long march to recover the republic.
For topic mapping the loss of rights in the U.S. since 9/11, this site makes a very good starting point.