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“The Director of National Intelligence has published the “Primary Order” from the FISA Court which describes the scope of the NSA’s data analysis activities for telephone call records. The order details the procedures the NSA is expected to follow when reviewing data, but is heavily redacted. The order does not include a legal analysis of …
International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance – Final version 10 July 2013 “As technologies that facilitate State surveillance of communications advance, States are failing to ensure that laws and regulations related to communications surveillance adhere to international human rights and adequately protect the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. …
News release: “Earlier today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced that the US Code is now available for bulk download in XML. This seemingly technical announcement must be understood as a bigger win for transparency than it would initially appear. What the House leadership is doing (in a bipartisan …
Laura S. Kauer, National Security Archive: “The Department of State’s launch of its new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) online request platform and terrific, comprehensive, 80,000-document online FOIA reading room, makes it a fitting time to review how to craft a good FOIA request to the Department of State (or any agency, actually). Frequent filers …
“Reporters Without Borders has published an Online Survival Kit on its WefightCensorship.org website that has tools and practical advice that will allow you to protect your communications and data. You don’t need to be an IT engineer to learn how to protect the content of your emails and remain anonymous online. The tools and techniques …
Via LLRX.com – FOIA Facts: The Crazy World of FOIA Fees Scott Hodes discusses how the issue of FOIA fees may be the most complex area of an already confusing subject. There are multiple agencies involved in overseeing the issue and in general the money collected doesn’t help agency FOIA operations in the least. He clarifies …
“The National Security Agency has been allowed to extend its dragnet of the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon through a court order issued by the secret court that oversees surveillance. In an unprecedented move prompted by the Guardian’s disclosure in June of the NSA‘s indiscriminate collection of Verizon metadata, the Office …
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Poor management of FOIA requests at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is evidenced by older requests being forgotten while the agency focuses on the newer ones, according to the latest ICE records compiled and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. For example, as of the end …
Posted by Brad Smith General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft “[July 16, 2013] we have asked the Attorney General of the United States to personally take action to permit Microsoft and other companies to share publicly more complete information about how we handle national security requests for customer information. We …
Published July 08, 2013 – Associated Press, Bin Laden raid files reportedly purged from Pentagon computers, sent to CIA
“2013 was the Year of Reinvention, with innovators gathering at several national conferences pushing the boundaries of the business of law, using software, algorithms, and new pricing models for lawyers as a way to better provide legal services to the middle class. New companies challenged our assumptions about legal research, and established challengers hit their …
Sunshine in Government Initiative – June 27, 2013 “Many Americans are curious about electronic surveillance by the federal government. Conveniently, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has already helped provide some answers. Although much of the interest and attention arises from journalism in recent days (here, here, here, and here, and related stories), America has …
