ACLU Appeals Court Approval of NSA Blanket Wiretaps
Yesterday afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Manhattan, New York, filed an appeal to overrule a US federal judge’s December 2013 decision that approves of the US National Security Agency (NSA) plan to archive copies of all telephone records of large telephone companies. http://news.yahoo.com/aclu-asks-appeals-court-undo-phone-data-ruling-192626948.html The NSA program has operated for over ten years within the US, according to documents released recently by Edward Snowden. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm
According to analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com (HFS), another US federal judge in Washington DC, Richard Leon, ruled in early 2014 that the NSA program unconstitutionally violates the ban against unreasonable search and seizure. Judge Leon stayed his decision so that the US government could file an appeal. https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013cv0851-48
Today HFS analysts predict this question and possibly both of the federal appeals will end up in the US Supreme Court, as impacts of the Edward Snowden leaks continue to unfold across the globe. Those analysts opine that for good or ill, Snowden has changed the course of history.
What do you think?
I wouldn’t say for “good or ill” but rather for “good AND ill”. I’m not a fan of Snowden’s nor am I a fan of the NSA. If I had to choose between the two, I’ll go with the NSA. We’re fools if we believe other countries don’t do the exact same thing. And if we tie the hands of our secret service (which I doubt we can do anyway) to ensure what we believe is our freedom to have privacy, we may find in the end that our very freedom to exist has been put at risk. As for Snowden, I hope he remains outside the USA for the duration of his life. It’s interesting that he keeps leaking and leaking and leaking over months.