Privacy Group Sues Justice Department for Access to NSA Surveillance Reports

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice in an attempt to get access to reports on the National Security Agency (NSA) program that involved the collection of Internet records in bulk.

This is just the latest in a string of cases attempting to challenge NSA surveillance programs in court. Most recently, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that one aspect of NSA surveillance violates the Constitution and even exceeds the Patriot Act.

In November, the Supreme Court refused to hear another case brought by EPIC that challenged the legality of dragnet telephone surveillance conducted by the NSA.

In this latest lawsuit, EPIC is attempting to obtain semiannual reports under the Freedom of Information Act, which reportedly “contain statistics on the now-discontinued surveillance program,” according to The Hill.

Previously, the director of national intelligence stated that the program was discontinued in 2011 because it “was no longer meeting the operational expectations that NSA had for it.”

The program reportedly collected what is known as metadata, but not the actual contents of Internet communications.

While many maintain that one can’t learn much at all from metadata, a team of Stanford researchers is currently conducting a study to show just how much revealing information can be gathered metadata, in this case cellphone metadata.

The collection of Internet metadata was carried out under Section 402 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This provision allows for so-called “pen register and trap and trace” surveillance, a type of surveillance which has been used on a widespread basis.

FISA requires the Department of Justice to create semiannual reports for the intelligence committees of the House and Senate, detailing the use of Section 402 surveillance.

The government has been harshly criticized in the past for the secrecy surrounding FISA, especially the government’s secret interpretation of the law.

The Hill reports that the semiannual reports probably include statistics revealing the scope and size of the NSA’s dragnet surveillance program.

EPIC has requested an expedited ruling, which would order the Justice Department to release the documents within 20 days.

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not respond to The Hill’s attempt to get a comment on the lawsuit.

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This article first appeared at End the Lie.