EFF: US Gov't Bid To Alter Court Record in Jewel v. NSA 78
The EFF is only today able to release details of an attempt by the government to alter the historical record in the case brought by the EFF against the NSA in Jewel v. NSA. "On June 6, the court held a long hearing in Jewel in a crowded, open courtroom, widely covered by the press. We were even on the local TV news on two stations. At the end, the Judge ordered both sides to request a transcript since he ordered us to do additional briefing. But when it was over, the government secretly, and surprisingly sought permission to "remove" classified information from the transcript, and even indicated that it wanted to do so secretly, so the public could never even know that they had done so." As you'd expect of the EFF, they fought back with vigorous objections, and in the end the government did not get its way, instead deciding that it hadn't given away any classified information after all.
"The transcript of a court proceeding is the historical record of that event, what will exist and inform the public long after the persons involved are gone. The government's attempt to change this history was unprecedented. We could find no example of where a court had granted such a remedy or even where such a request had been made. This was another example of the government's attempt to shroud in secrecy both its own actions, as well as the challenges to those actions. We are pleased that the record of this attempt is now public. But should the situation recur, we will fight it as hard as we did this time."
Duh! (Score:5, Insightful)
We could find no example of where a court had granted such a remedy or even where such a request had been made.
Well, duh! Normally our rewriting of history is effective enough that you will not find such records.
1984 (Score:5, Insightful)
1984 - George Orwell
Put your money where your mouth is (Score:5, Insightful)
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One way mirror (Score:5, Insightful)
The end game of NSA is a perfect one-way mirror: They have all information about your activities, and you have zero information about their activities.
Note that this is the opposite of what the American public needs to make an informed decision during elections.
Re:Duh! (Score:2, Insightful)
He did not look very far. It has happened at Gitmo.
I thought the point of Gitmo was to not even go to court, so there are no court transcripts / records to change.
Re:Duh! (Score:3, Insightful)
How about contempt of court? I mean, it's pretty contemptuous of the Executive Branch to be demanding a subversion of the Justice Branch.
Who is "the government" ? (Score:2, Insightful)
Which party or parties are being referred to by this article when it says "The Court allowed the government a first look at the transcript..." and "...the government wrote a letter..." et cetera. Was it "The Government" or the director of the NSA? Was it "The Government" or The President of the United States of America? Was it "The Government" or someone from the DoD. Was it Congress? The Senate? We the people?
Re:One way mirror (Score:4, Insightful)