Surveillance Court: NSA Can Resume Bulk Surveillance

An anonymous reader writes: We all celebrated back in May when a federal court ruled the NSA's phone surveillance illegal, and again at the beginning of June, when the Patriot Act expired, ending authorization for that surveillance. Unfortunately, the NY Times now reports on a ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which concluded that the NSA may temporarily resume bulk collection of metadata about U.S. citizens's phone calls. From the article: "In a 26-page opinion (PDF) made public on Tuesday, Judge Michael W. Mosman of the surveillance court rejected the challenge by FreedomWorks, which was represented by a former Virginia attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican. And Judge Mosman said that the Second Circuit was wrong, too. 'Second Circuit rulings are not binding' on the surveillance court, he wrote, 'and this court respectfully disagrees with that court's analysis, especially in view of the intervening enactment of the U.S.A. Freedom Act.' When the Second Circuit issued its ruling that the program was illegal, it did not issue any injunction ordering the program halted, saying that it would be prudent to see what Congress did as Section 215 neared its June 1 expiration."

Comments

The founding documents present a path...

[msauve]

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, â" That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,"

Re:The founding documents present a path...

[Anonymous Coward]

No it is not. People on slashdot like to post stuff like this as if it is even remotely likely.

The majority of the American people are sufficiently well-off that there is no way in hell they are going to risk their lives rebelling against the government. It doesn't matter how egregiously the government betrays us...so long as we live in relative comfort we will accept it and come back for more.

I suspect that the most defiant act you are taking is to post derisive comments on slashdot, and possibly download a few files in violation of copyright law. Most of the "revolutionaries" in America are right there with you, buddy.

Re:The founding documents present a path...

[Demonoid-Penguin]

The majority of the American people are sufficiently well-off that there is no way in hell they are going to risk their lives rebelling against the government. [...]

Lives? I disagree - though not seriously. Let me try:-

The majority of people living in the countries represented by FiveEyes believe they are millionaires in waiting. They blame:-

• "illegal immigrants" (people fleeing the countries they are at war with - who now work the jobs they are too good to do)
• "disruptive technology" (business that threatens the businesses that profit from the many wars their countries are involved in - run by liberals and others that understand things as a result of effort they're too lazy to exert)
• "moral degeneracy" (anyone that don't toe the line they plant their noses on hoping to impress the powers that be)
• the "welfare state" (that which seeks to redress the imbalance that "they" hope will one day soon be unbalanced in their favor - "that single mother lives in government housing with her four kids on almost $1000 pw - I wish I got that much to watch tv all day")

for the fact that they are not already millionaires.

What they want is to be conspicuous millionaires (spend like there is no tomorrow), and celebrities (worshiped like they worship other celebrities). They want the fruits of technology and instant knowledge without effort. Holidays in foreign climes where life is cheap, financed by credit serviced by revenue from winnings and speculation guided by others. Angry, scared (of losing what they don't have), and insane (as a consequence of believing in diametrically opposing impossible things) they cower like whipped dogs before the same authority they wish to be.

No surprise then that most retreat to worship at the altars of entertainment, superstition, or conservatism - the three pillars of denial.

So much typing. It should be easier (someone else do it for me).

Now rise up and rebel you, you, - other people. Some one (else) needs to kick some arse.

LOL, wut???

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Like they ever stopped?

Re: Above Congress?

[bill_mcgonigle]

not sure if serious ... CIA people have been in the Whitehouse since 1980, out in the open (it's debatable before then). They spy on Congress, have their own secret kangaroo courts, and carry out overseas executions all admittedly. One could suppose that there's nothing worse behind closed doors but that would be generous towards spies. Who doesn't really think they're blackmailing anybody in Congress or other high elected office?

Politics remains the entertainment arm of the military-industrial complex. After all, people would be mildly non-plussed to learn that they were secretly ruled by spooks and banksters.

Re: Above Congress?

[msauve]

"The total resources of 300 million people is taxed and at the disposal of under 1000 elected people..."

...at the Federal level.

And that's the fundamental problem - the government which should have the most influence, and over which the electorate should have the most control, should start at the local level.

We're supposed to be the United States, but the Feds have used the supremacy clause to take over almost everything with real significance, ignoring the 9th and 10th Amendments, which are treated as an inconvenient speed bump.

IMHO, the biggest problem with the Constitution is that the Supremes should really be under the direct control of the States, instead of the Feds deciding what the Feds can do.

Re:Corruption is it's own reward

[cfalcon]

It will take it being a serious campaign issue at the federal level for it to stop- and that's just the first step. Every toll road has a toll for X years. Then after X years... it keeps the toll. Every time, no one can turn the tap off. As a nation, we voted in a guy who was gonna close gitmo. 8 years later, still gitmo. As long as the red and blue teams can keep dangling the threat of losing personal freedom if the OTHER team gets in, it's essentially impossible to get policy level things changed.