In one of the most serious challenges to Americans’ right to privacy, Yahoo has been found to have colluded with an unknown American spy agency to comb through its customers’ emails and turn over said information to the agency. This shocking discovery was revealed to have been part of an order from the government’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that directed the tech company to cooperate with surveillance efforts:
“Civil liberties groups and some other legal experts said the attempt to expand the ability of law enforcement agencies and intelligence services to sift through vast amounts of online data, in some cases without a court order, was in conflict with the Fourth Amendment because many innocent messages are included in the initial sweep.
“A lot of it is unrecognizable from a Fourth Amendment perspective,” said Orin Kerr, a former federal prosecutor and George Washington University Law School expert on surveillance. “It’s not where the traditional Fourth Amendment law is.”
But the general counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Robert Litt, said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that the legal interpretation needed to be adjusted because of technological changes.
“Computerized scanning of communications in the same way that your email service provider scans looking for viruses – that should not be considered a search requiring a warrant for Fourth Amendment purposes,” said Litt. He said he is leaving his post on Dec. 31 as the end of President Barack Obama’s administration nears.
DIGITAL SIGNATURE
Reuters was unable to determine what data, if any, was handed over by Yahoo after its live email search. The search was first reported by Reuters on Oct. 4. [nL2N1CA1OW] Yahoo and the National Security Agency (NSA) declined to explain the basis for the order.
The surveillance court, whose members are appointed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, oversees and approves the domestic pursuit of intelligence about foreign powers. While details of the Yahoo search are classified, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters it was aimed at isolating a digital signature for a single person or small team working for a foreign government frequently at odds with America.
The ODNI is expected to disclose as soon as next month an estimated number of Americans whose electronic communications have been caught up in online surveillance programs intended for foreigners, U.S. lawmakers said. [nL1N1EB1SU]
The ODNI’s expected disclosure is unlikely to cover such orders as the one to Yahoo but would encompass those under a different surveillance authority called section 702. That section allows the operation of two internet search programs, Prism and “upstream” collection, that were revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden more than three years ago. Prism gathers the messaging data of targets from Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O), Facebook (FB.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), Apple (AAPL.O) among others.
Upstream surveillance allows the NSA to copy web traffic to search data for certain terms called “selectors,” such as email addresses, that are contained in the body of messages. ODNI’s Litt said ordinary words are not used as selectors.
The Fourth Amendment applies to the search and seizure of electronic devices as much as ordinary papers. Wiretaps and other surveillance in the internet age are now subject to litigation across the United States. But in the FISC, with rare exceptions, the judges hear only from the executive branch.
Their rulings have been appealed only three times, each time going to a review board. Only the government is permitted to appeal from there, and so far it has never felt the need.
PUBLIC LEGAL CHALLENGES
The FISC’s reasoning, though, is heading into public courts. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 5 cited FISC precedents in rejecting an appeal of an Oregon man who was convicted of plotting to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony after his emails were collected in another investigation.
Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are fighting the expansion of legalized surveillance in Congress and in courts.”
Source: Reuters
Although this article has merit in some people’s eyes – these concepts are rapidly becoming archaic. Too many many people are hanging onto the old concept of privacy when it has not really existed for a couple of decades.
I build computers from scrath for a hobby. Having just finishex building a “Server” as my last build – I can assure you that personal privacy is a concept of past days. My next door neighbor is completing his masters degree in IT Security. He assures me that privacy is history unless you are completely off the grid and then “They” would come looking for you ;o). We have to just get used to this new way of living.
Let it go – it is inevitable. We are just wasting energy fighting it.
bpycott YAHOO
So nice that you gave up.
Dave – it really cheered me up to get your snarky comment. Remarks like this really make people feel good. Hey everybody read Dave’s comment. He is a Facebook Vampire because he likes to suck the life out of everybody with his keyboard.