Judge calls for phone data to be destroyed, says NSA program too broad by Jeff John Roberts.
From the post:
In a major rebuke to the National Security Agency’s mass collection of telephone data, a federal judge ruled that the agency’s surveillance program likely violates the Constitution and also granted two Verizon subscribers’ request for an order to destroy so-called meta-data.
On Monday in Washington,D.C., U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a ruling that “bars the Government from collecting … any telephony data” associated with the Verizon account of two citizens who filed the lawsuit, and “requires the Government to destroy any such metadata in its possession that was collected through the bulk collection program.”
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The judge also rejected the argument that the existence of a secret NSA court, known as the FISA court, precluded him from reviewing the surveillance program for constitutional questions.
“While Congress has great latitude to create statutory scheme like FISA, it may not hang a cloak of secrecy over the Constitution,” he wrote as part of the 68 page ruling.
See the decision at: Klayman NSA Decision and more at: Politico.
Good news but note the judge only ordered the destruction of records for two subscribers. And even that is stayed on appeal. Like they would really destroy the data anyway. How would you know?
Take this as a temporary victory.
Celebrate, yes, but regroup tomorrow to continue the fight.