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US Judge Rules Against NSA In Phone Spying Case (reuters.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the stop-looking dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news that a federal judge ordered the NSA to immediately end its collection of call records associated with a California lawyer and his law firm. Reuters reports: "Opponents of mass surveillance cheered the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, who granted an injunction to bar the NSA from collecting the phone metadata of California attorney J.J. Little and his small legal practice. Unlike previous rulings against the NSA's program to vacuum up Americans' call data, which was exposed publicly by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, Leon's opinion does not grant a stay, meaning it will take effect immediately."

3 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. compliance by BradMajors · · Score: 5, Insightful

    However, I think it will be unlikely that the NSA will comply with the order, and that no one will be able to determine if NSA complied with the order, and if it was found NSA did not comply with the order no one would be punished.

    1. Re:compliance by zlives · · Score: 3, Insightful

      clearly you know nothing... the director of the NSA can and will be asked to give a sworn testimony to the congress in which he will verify that... there is nothing to see here, move along citizen.

  2. Re:How by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did he prove he has standing to sue? Isn't that what most (all?) other lawsuits failed to do resulting in dismissal?

    Just guessing:
      - He's a lawyer (part of the legal system itself), suing over the phone info on himself and his firm.
      - His, and his firm's, consultations with clients are privileged. So keeping records on who they talked to and when are a real infringement on a fundamental and recognized right. (It's not just "chilling" speech. Its chilling the right to an attorney.)
      - The Snowden revelations show that these records are being kept on him - because they're being kept on EVERYONE. So he cleared the other hurdle that the secrecy of agency operations (including the gag order provisions of National Security Letters) usually raised.

    So it looks like he's got enough to avoid the "no standing" excuse for courts to drop the hot potato.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way