A.C.L.U. Sues to Bar ‘Dragnet’ Collection of Phone Records

[onehandle]

Last edited Tue Jun 11, 2013, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its “dragnet” collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program — whose existence was exposed by a former National Security Agency contractor last week — is illegal and asking a judge to both stop it and order the records purged.

The lawsuit, filed in New York, could set up an eventual Supreme Court test. It could also focus attention on this disclosure amid the larger heap of top secret surveillance matters that were disclosed by Edward J. Snowden, a former N.S.A. contractor who came forward on Sunday to say he was the source of a series of disclosures by The Guardian and The Washington Post.

The program “gives the government a comprehensive record of our associations and public movements, revealing a wealth of detail about our familial, political, professional, religious and intimate associations,” the complaint says, adding that it “is likely to have a chilling effect on whistle-blowers and others who would otherwise contact” the A.C.L.U. for legal assistance.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/us/aclu-files-suit-over-phone-surveillance-program.html

[pmorlan1]

1. Thank you, ACLU

K & R

[OverBurn]

12. +1

[mike_c]

2. excellent....

eom

[Just Saying]

3. Been here before

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-sues-stop-illegal-spying-americans-saying-president-not-above-law

[azurnoir]

7. but-but-but that was under Bush this is Obama it'll be all different

you'll see

[cstanleytech]

27. Its not so much as whos in office as president that matters but who controls the congress as

who controls that controls the power of the purse.

[villager]

4. Good. Hopefully this can help keep some of the excesses of the MIC a tiny bit in check...

n/t

[Laelth]

5. Good. This might give the SCOTUS a chance to rule on the issue.

We need some new guidance from the SCOTUS on this. With a Democrat in office and a Republican Court, we might get a good ruling as the Republicans will want to strip power away from the sitting President.

-Laelth

[SamKnause]

6. Sue

All branches of the U.S. government should be sued for selling this country to Wall Street, corporations and CEOs.

There are so many laws and trade agreements that need to be abolished.

Privatizing the military, handing over U.S. surveillance to private companies and private prisons were all horrible mistakes.

This country is imploding and it didn't start with the Obama administration.

The damage the war on drugs has caused is incalculable.

The slow death of unions is devastating.

The country is imploding.

I wish we could reboot, or hit the restart button.

[Yo_Mama]

8. Vote with your checks

Seriously, send them a donation.

[kelliekat44]

9. This suit is going nowhere. The behavior doesnt' stop "freedom of speech." That's all the winghuts

care about. Being able to spew as much hate as they can without interference. No rights have been denied as far as i can tell. The courts do not look favorably on the "rights to privacy."

[moonbeam23]

15. Huh?

The courts do not look favorably on the "rights to privacy."

See the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution....it seems to be ALL about Privacy!!

[totodeinhere]

26. You are calling the ACLU wingnuts? That's totally

outrageous. The ACLU is one of the great defenders of our constitutional rights.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Supreme Court voted 9-0 that GPS tracking needs a warrant

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/story/2012-01-23/supreme-court-GPS/52754354/1

A 9-0 vote in favour of a right to privacy, just last year.

[benld74]

10. Great, now I can't stop humming the Dragnet them song in my head!!!!

Da dada! Da dadadada!
Da dada! Da dadadada!

[longship]

18. Dum De Dum Dum! Dum De Dum Dum Dahhh!

That dreaded ear worm infects everybody.

The worst one in this context is Jack Webb's wooden, dispassionate voice narrative.

"Just the facts, Ma'am."

[Lamonte]

11. Targetted surveilance

They waste much time and money by collecting trillions of calls. They know the numbers of most if not all terrorists, so watch calls made to them.

[musiclawyer]

13. I predicted this on my twitter feed

Not only the ACLU. The private plaintiffs bar likely is scouting for class representatives --anyone who was injured by these programs. The third party vendors have no immunity In a big privacy rights state like CA where the courts award attorneys fees, the opportunities are limitless ....

[BenzoDia]

14. it's good to see that some people out there know the difference between phone records and wire taps!

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, onehandle.

[WillyT]

17. HUGE K & R !!!

[xtraxritical]

19. Anyone that dislikes the ACLU is a total fool.

[musiclawyer]

20. The government can hide behind national security

The third party contractors can't. A class action suit needs just a few good facts-- real harm to real innocent people. Then as the sordid details emerge in discovery, Congress will have to act ....

[SoapBox]

21. ACLU...

read the details and get the facts.

If you want this entire program/department eliminated...THEN you keep us safe from TERRORISTS and
YOU figure out how to do it.

How many hundreds of MILLIONS would love to bring America down?!? All armed with cell phones and
internet connections now...add to that, we have bleeding hearts here, virtually wanting to bring us down. These
bleeding hearts are now squealing to high heavens over this "intrusion" and are screaming about "my Constitutional
Rights"...all while the Tea Baggers and Pukes are, wait for it, SILENT. Gee, thought that they were the
ones that were all about privacy...maybe they do actually know that this program is to look for patterns
and hopefully get the terrorists first?

It's a different day and age, then just carrying around a musket and wearing a pointed hat.

[Comrade Grumpy]

22. Somehow I trust the ACLU more than I trust the national security state.

And "bleeding hearts" is typically a slur cast by conservatives at liberals and progressives.

[frylock]

23. go back under your bed..

coward.

[cpwm17]

25. By far the best way to keep us safe from terrorism

is for the US to stop its unjust foreign policy, including the war mongering. Most foreign terrorist actions against the US have been payback for US's unjust foreign policy. Osama was very clear about his reasons for 9-11.

There's more money to be made by scaring us into more wars which conveniently gives US Government officials an excuse to maintain a large security apparatus.

[bl968]

24. Facebook and Google

I have been thinking about the claims by Facebook and Google that no government agencies have direct access to their servers, and that is likely quite correct.

What they do most likely have, is a tap point on Facebook's and Google's networks which can then snoop on all traffic between their servers and their users and visa versa then ship it off en masse to the NSA for processing and storage... So their statements while technically true, are still intentionally false and misleading.

It's been well known that the government has had these taps on the major phone company networks and the internet backbone for years.

[lindysalsagal]

29. According to Rachel Maddow's senate guest, you're right: They just re-define the terms

used in previous constitutional exemptions, like the effing patriot act.

They secretly decide that this common tech word that used to mean baked potato now means live grenade.

And we can't ask because it's classified.

It's all lying, with plausible deny-ability.

[blkmusclmachine]

30. .