Secret Court Upholds Phone Data Collection 174
cold fjord writes "The Houston Chronicle reports, 'A newly declassified opinion from the government's secret surveillance court says no company that has received an order to turn over bulk telephone records has challenged the directive. The opinion by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Claire Eagan, made public Tuesday, spells out her reasons for reauthorizing the phone records collection "of specified telephone service providers" for three months. ... 'Indeed, no recipient of any Section 215 order has challenged the legality of such an order, despite the explicit statutory mechanism for doing so.'"
Relatedly, the UN Human Rights Council is discussing the surveillance situation.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)
We've been under a constant state of emergency [wikipedia.org] since 1995. That's almost 20 years. This is shameful.
It also says that Congress was informed (Score:5, Informative)
It also says that FISA court believed that Congress has been told about the programs, when they voted to renew it. However we learn that this is not true. Congress members were kept in the dark by Mike Rogers (Michigan's rep).
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130917/14032124558/fisa-court-pretends-congress-actually-was-told-details-bulk-surveillance-even-though-it-wasnt.shtml
FISA court thought one thing, and NSA's stooge Mike Rogers of Michigan decided Congress should be kept in the dark and vote based on lies. So the court voted to uphold it.
Curious how secrecy can be leveraged into laws by these creeps. The Telco's are not the ones being spied on, so they're not the 'protagonist' in any lawsuit. Worse they make a good profit from the NSA, so they're more like NSA contractors, paid to spy on Americans. Hardly likely to complain!
Except for Joseph Nacchio of Qwest (Score:5, Informative)
Re:It also says that Congress was informed (Score:5, Informative)
That's the first thing I thought the court meant. That since nobody who was being secretly spied upon protested, the secret spying could continue. Of course, if someone who was being secretly spied upon DID protest, they would first have to prove standing - that they were secretly being spied upon - without having access to any classified materials which proved they were being spied upon... An impossible task which ensures that nobody can challenge the law.