Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Trove of NSA Documents and FISC Opinions Declassified Thanks to EFF Lawsuit

Posted by Unknown on from the what-is-truth dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Thanks to an EFF lawsuit, the office of the Director of National Intelligence is releasing declassified redacted versions of various documents relating to the NSA's domestic surveillance activities. The documents are being released on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks." The EFF is hosting the documents, which are searchable. A few initial findings were posted yesterday evening; they include (thanks to another anonymous reader) the NSA illegally using phone data for three years, and evidence that Clapper knowingly mislead the public about metadata collection.

2 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Oh look by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents

  2. Re:So, when will heads roll? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Except that there're virtually always young Turks or gadflies or other types looking to make a name for themselves or upset the applecart when those in power show signs of weakness.

    Sure there are, but since you'd be trying to prosecute the head of a federal agency (or near to it), you'd likely need the help of the Attorney General of the US.

    And if he's decided (or been told) that it's not in the national interest to do this, it simply won't happen.

    A junior prosecutor can't file charges his boss tells him he's not allowed to charge. He'd basically get fired or removed from the case.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with you that someone should be charged -- I'm just of the opinion that as a practical matter it might be impossible for someone with the right jurisdiction to do anything about this to either have or exercise the will to prosecute.

    And I vaguely recall that the feds retain the right to basically say "you have no standing to sue because we said so". I have no idea of what entity could undertake this and be in any way free of being shut down by the feds who cite national security.

    The deck is unfortunately stacked against anybody who wants to prosecute this, since it could mean taking on the entire federal government.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.