Democrats and Republicans Unite In Vote To Extend Warrantless Surveillance

Civil liberties groups have decried the expansion of warrantless surveillance, saying that it violates Americans’ rights to privacy, creates an end-run around the Fourth Amendment, and may be subject to politically motivated abuse.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
NSA | Surveillance

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate has quietly voted to give intelligence agencies the permission to conduct warrantless surveillance on U.S. citizens for an additional five years. Senators took a vote on Tuesday of this week to end debate on a bill, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), that allows the National Security

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Liberty Act Presents Another “Fake Fix” To Controversial NSA Spying Program

With vague language, loopholes, and glaring omissions, the proposed USA Liberty Act — ostensibly intended to check exposed NSA spying abuses — is a toothless tiger, leaving in place practices that are squarely at odds with Fourth Amendment constitutional protections for ordinary citizens.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
A reflection of the Department of Homeland Security logo in the eyeglasses of a cybersecurity analyst at the watch and warning center of the Department of Homeland Security's secretive cyber defense facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Ever since Edward Snowden helped reveal the true extent of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive spying program, U.S. politicians have attempted to “fix” the program’s gross violations of the Fourth Amendment with legislation. While some legislative efforts were “fake fixes,” others were well-meaning but have fallen short, as legislators

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Mass Surveillance Advocate Quietly Nominated To “Protect” Your Privacy Rights

The president recently nominated a staunch advocate of mass surveillance to chair one of the few barriers standing between intrusive government spying and the American people’s privacy.

Carey Wedler
By Carey Wedler
A man holds up his iPhone during a rally in support of data privacy outside the Apple store in San Francisco. (AP/Eric Risberg)

Though outrage over mass surveillance swept the United States after Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013, there is little discussion of these invasive practices just four years later.This apathy comes despite former President Barack Obama’s move to expand to information sharing between agencies just days before Trump took office and after the Trump

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Wikileaks: CIA “False Flag” Attack Likely Used To Plant Evidence For Trump Tower Wiretap

The first “false flag” operation conducted by the CIA’s UMBRAGE program – exposed by Wikileaks’ release of the “Vault 7” documents – may have involved planting “proof” that led to the approval of a request to wiretap Trump Tower last October.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Armored police walk through the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. (AP/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON, DC – Like many of the scandals and controversies involving President Trump, it all started with a tweet. Last Saturday, Trump made a daring accusation against his predecessor Barack Obama, accusing Obama of wiretapping his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in the months prior to the contentious 2016 election. While the former

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ACLU Demands Secret Court Hand Over Crucial Rulings On Surveillance Law

“The people of this country can’t hold the government accountable for its surveillance activities unless they know what our laws allow”

Nadia Prupis
By Nadia Prupis
Surveillance

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a motion to reveal the secret court opinions with "novel or significant interpretations" of surveillance law, in a renewed push for government transparency. The motion, filed Wednesday by the ACLU and Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, asks the Foreign Intelligence

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States Push Back Against Warrantless Surveillance

State-by-state, legislation is being created to ensure Americans’ rights to privacy and guarantee other civil liberties in the wake of NSA revelations of federal surveillance programs.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Eric Friedberg

In the post-Snowden, National Security Agency revelations in the United States, it appears states have stepped up to the plate to offer their constituents protections against warrantless surveillance. With the federal government yet to implement any sort of protection following the NSA revelations, states are issuing legislation intended to thwart

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