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Government To Release Hundreds of Documents On NSA Spying

Trailrunner7 writes "In response to a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Department of Justice is preparing to release a trove of documents related to the government's secret interpretation of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. The declassified documents will include previously secret opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The decision by the Justice Department to release the documents is the second legal victory in recent weeks for the EFF related to the National Security Agency's intelligence collection programs. In August, the group won the release of a 2011 FISC opinion that revealed that the court ruled that some of the NSA's collection programs were illegal and unconstitutional. The newest decision will result in the release of hundreds of pages of documents related to the way the government has been interpreting Section 215, which is the measure upon which some of the NSA's surveillance programs are based. In a status report released Wednesday regarding the EFF's suit against the Department of Justice, attorneys for the government said that they will release the documents by Sept. 10."

27 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That is a lot of [REDACTED]s.

    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      They can probably release faster if their printers not constantly out of toners printing all black pages.

  2. NOW they tell us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somewhere in Moscow, a lone man can be heard saying, "What?!? All I had to do was ask? Damnit!"

    1. Re:NOW they tell us by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Somewhere in Moscow GRU, FSB, SVR, siloviki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silovik) are wondering is this just all a generational political fight between CIA and NSA contractors for political power?
      Play the optics until the trap becomes clear.
      Their endless hunt for cleared US staff goes on. All the online resumes with code words and colour pictures are found and sorted. Short on cash, a hidden past, just needing a new friend...

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:NOW they tell us by dbIII · · Score: 2

      No that thing was obvious. A turf war escalated and the FBI showed they had more muscle. There's no point trying to tie other things into the chaos of what are effectively rogue agencies, they may as well be medieval Italian city states or mafia families. Trying to starve them of funds just ends up with stuff like North selling weapons to terrorists that had killed over a hundred US marines less than a year before the deal.

  3. Feeding Us What They Want Us To See by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They cannot be trusted. They'll only feed us what they want us to see and nothing more. They'll deny that they do much more, and even will tell us they've curtailed some efforts.

    They are the government. They lie. They cannot be trusted.

    1. Re:Feeding Us What They Want Us To See by foniksonik · · Score: 4, Funny

      [An extraterrestrial robot and spaceship has just landed on earth. The robot steps out of the spaceship...]
      "I come in peace," it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, "take me to your Lizard." ...

      "It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."

      "You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"

      "No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."

      "Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

      "I did," said ford. "It is."

      "So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"

      "It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

      "You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

      "Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

      "But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

      "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"

      "What?"

      "I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"

      "I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."

      Ford shrugged again.

      "Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."

      --
      A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  4. Re:Yeah, that's the ticket by Mitreya · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Drown 'em in paperwork.

    No, that's not it at all.
    EFF has to battle in court to receive secret interpretation of the law. That's not "paperwork", that's the law itself.

  5. Re:It's the law! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah these motherfuckers lied to the congress, what makes us think they won't lie to everyone else?

  6. Gov't releases evidence about illegal spying... by Somebody+Is+Using+My · · Score: 5, Funny

    Today the government, under the Freedom of Information Act, released further evidence to its illegal spying on American citizens. However, it still adamantly refuses to actually stop the agencies from continuing in these actions. "I don't think it's our place", a Senator - insisting on anonymity - said.

    "Yeah", one NSA agent was overheard saying. "It's no big thing that this information is out there. It's not as if we care what the people think anymore."

    In response, the FBI announced it intends to one-up the NSA by revealing they shot Kennedy. "The NSA are just a bunch of Johnny-come-lately amateurs when it comes to screwing over the citizens of America. We've been doing illegal wiretaps for decades. And don't get me started on the fun stuff we did back under Hoover's administration; it's about time we got recognition for all that work!"

    Asked if he worried that these relevations might have unexpected consequences, he said "Nah; it's obvious that the average citizen is so apathetic that we might as well flaunt our villainy. Anyway, what can they do? We have the power, the guns, the money. Let them whine on YouTube; we'll get to them soon enough."

    A nearby CIA agent refused any comment as he drove off in what appeared to be an Area-51 flying saucer.

  7. Good luck with that by gmuslera · · Score: 3, Informative

    They already intentionally lied to the congress and suffered no consequences even after that was found out. What are the odds of what they show is the real full documents or just a redacted, partial, totally false or even a bunch of pages filled with loren ipsum? They already proved that deserve no trust and that don't care at all about it.

  8. I have an advance copy by FuzzNugget · · Score: 4, Funny

    In REDACTED the US Department of Homeland Security REDACTED REDACTED and, under the direction of REDACTED, REDACTED of the National Security Agency, implemented REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED to REDACTED, REDACTED and REDACTED. Additionally programs were setup to REDACTED REDACTED and REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED using REDACTED. The methods included REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED as well as REDACTED REDACTED.

    Signed,
    Fuck You Citizens

  9. Been there, done that by ronmon · · Score: 3, Funny
  10. Re:It's the law! by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Funny

    The check is in the mail.
    It's only a cold sore.
    I won't cum in your mouth.
    Really - this is ALL we at the NSA are up to.

  11. QUICK - THEY'RE ON OUR TAIL! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2

    Release the Chaff

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  12. Re:It's the law! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google yourself the term "Limited Hangout".

    It was certain they'd do this, the same second that Snowden hit the wires.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  13. Is SELinux vulnerable? by DMJC · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We know the NSA has been promoting security standards that they can hack into. We know they've been pushing weaker security at standards organisations etc. Could SELinux which was developed by the NSA be vulnerable to this sort of attack? Could the NSA have a backdoor into Linux itself? I know that Linux should be the only alternative to Windows/OSX at this point for people trying to avoid NSA spying, but could Linux itself be vulnerable to the attacks the NSA can launch on other platforms?

    1. Re:Is SELinux vulnerable? by jhol13 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Could SELinux which was developed by the NSA be vulnerable to this sort of attack?

      Yes, it could.

      Could the NSA have a backdoor into Linux itself?

      Yes, they have, as does Chinese, Vupen, etc. Whether to call them "backdoors" or "just a random security holes" is left as a philosophical discussion.

      but could Linux itself be vulnerable to the attacks the NSA can launch on other platforms?

      Yes.

    2. Re:Is SELinux vulnerable? by elashish14 · · Score: 2

      I know that Linux should be the only alternative to Windows/OSX at this point

      What's wrong with BSD?

      Of course, there's always this issue which I haven't seen mentioned recently. The fact that nothing similar has come forward on Linux is concerning to me....

      --
      I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
    3. Re:Is SELinux vulnerable? by ghost_templar · · Score: 2

      Relax already. The code for SELinux is freely available and I can guarantee you, well vetted by now. If it had a backdoor, someone would have noticed. I would have thought Linux users of all people, knowing the benefits of open-source code, would be less likely to be showing knee-jerk reactions about this sort of thing.

      Be paranoid sure, but sometimes a bit of thought and logic can make you rest easy at night. It's a shame a well-designed security architecture is now tainted simply because it has the acronym NSA associated with it.

      --
      "Holy crap! A weapon just floating in space!"
  14. Re:Americans too dumb anyway by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Our government isn't oppressive. It generally doesn't have to be, as we're usually more than willful in our ability to distract ourselves. Think along the lines of Bread and Circuses and Brave New World. The "news" is reporting that some stupid socialite bimbo was all over some singer with a sexist song after some other singer bimbo got nearly naked on stage for her part of his performance. Other "news" is reporting on some stupid gal who had sex on camera with some stupid guy that had sex with some pathetic gal that has tested positive for HIV, and the only close-to-relevant part is that the original gal was engaging in sexual exchanges with a guy that wants to be mayor of a really big city.

    We don't have to have an oppressive government; we're fat-and-happy to the point that we don't care what our government does as long as our big-screen TVs provide us with enough sensationalism to keep us occupied by the 24 hour "news" cycle.

    The sad thing, really, is that I expect that the vast majority of people are so boring that there isn't even anything interesting to know about them by watching them.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  15. Re:Yeah, that's the ticket by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Informative

    News flash: Court decisions that have the force of law are NOT covered in any size, shape, or form by attorney-client privilege. Stop making an ass of yourself.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  16. Re: Drown 'em in paperwork. by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2

    You're funny, but that stopped being true about say 5 years ago - with the rise of social media came even better crowdsourcing, so we'd have that stuff split open in under a month.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  17. Re:Yeah, that's the ticket by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 2

    Yep. Otherwise you might as well be dealing with the Pirahna Brothers.

    "I had transgressed the unwritten law!"

    "And what was that?"

    "I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. "

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  18. Anything new being released? by mendax · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wonder how much of this stuff is already out in the wild thanks to Edward Snowden's efforts. Not much point if all this shit turns out to have already been released. It wouldn't surprise me if a good chunk of this is old news.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
  19. Foreign by flyingfsck · · Score: 2

    What part of 'Foreign' does the NSA and their lawyers not understand? It must be a publiek skooling thing, no child left behind and all that...

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  20. Re:Suitably redacted of course by geekoid · · Score: 2

    The amount of illegal searches done by the NSA is well, well under 1%.
    Keep that in mind when you are looking at a list that only contains the wrong doing.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect