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...

[zenlessyank]

Unfortunately, I am too poor to make the trip to Washington D.C. to help replace the government. I am also unarmed. My vote is weightless, as it cannot fall on either side of the fence given. I hear so much grumbling in the wind. I have heard it since the '70s. 40+ years later, NOTHING. Riots where people destroy their own neighborhoods is not what I want to sign up for. Seems if say, like 60,000,000 of us show up in Washington D.C. then maybe we can rip out the old fence and put up a new one with sides that mean something. Slavery is alive and well in the USA. We are slaves to our own greed. And selfishness. And fear. And hate. And Government. And the Government Minded. But I believe these are treasonous words in this police state, and I fear I may end up in Gitmo. SO... I retract all that was previously stated and label this for "entertainment purposes only".

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: 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.