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NSA Halts Collection of Americans' Emails About Foreign Targets (nytimes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the moving-forward dept.

The NSA is stopping one of the most disputed forms of its warrantless surveillance program (alternative source), one in which it collects Americans' emails and texts to and from people overseas and that mention a foreigner under surveillance, NYTimes reports on Friday citing officials familiar with the matter. From the report: National security officials have argued that such surveillance is lawful and helpful in identifying people who might have links to terrorism, espionage or otherwise are targeted for intelligence-gathering. The fact that the sender of such a message would know an email address or phone number associated with a surveillance target is grounds for suspicion, these officials argued. [...] The N.S.A. made the change to resolve problems it was having complying with special rules imposed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 to protect Americans' privacy. For technical reasons, the agency ended up collecting messages sent and received domestically as a byproduct of such surveillance, the officials said.

6 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Sure, they did. by Scutter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I believe them 100% because they've never lied to the public before. Or the courts. Or Congress. Why wouldn't you take them at their word?

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    1. Re:Sure, they did. by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      I believe them. I believe that they will stop collecting and archiving these emails.

      I don't for a moment believe that they wont:
      a) continue scanning everything you do
      b) have ISPs and Telecom companies hold the emails *ahem* metadata for years to come
      c) continue the process of sending NSA letters with no oversight to targets who have no say in their privacy.

  2. We don't believe you by Chronus1326 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We don't believe you

  3. Keep dreaming by markdavis · · Score: 2

    Laws and policies will not stop erosion of privacy by government or big business. Why? Because they really aren't accountable to anyone, and whistle-blowers get into severe trouble.

    If something CAN be done, then it is likely it WILL be done... especially if it one or more of these:

    * Cheap
    * Easy
    * Important to them
    * Has precedence
    * Already being collected

    It is like a microphone in a device- The way to ensure privacy isn't to list all kinds of rules and laws and disclosures, it is to put a hard switch on it so the user has the option to turn it off.

    Freedom and privacy shouldn't be exclusively to trying to limit what we DO with the information once it is collected. The only real way to ensure you are not being tracked is to prevent the collection of information in the first place. The only sure way to know a license plate scanner isn't being used improperly is to not use them, or limit the scope of how they are used. The only way to know cameras aren't tracking you is to not have cameras everywhere. The only way to know people can't potentionally abuse your messaging is to have encryption that can't be broken and without back-doors.

  4. Trump by krisbrowne42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am certain this is only because it exempts them from having to programatically exclude Trump and his deplorables, giving them plausible deniability when the eventual investigation asks what they knew when.

  5. we used to, BUT WE DON"T anymore by charliemerritt03 · · Score: 3, Informative

    "We used to, but we don't anymore." - I actually had an NSA employee say that to my face in 1980 - how many more times have I heard it in the media since? This is just another one ...cm