The Big Story
The BBC says that US privacy watchdog advises NSA spying is illegal:
The bulk collection of phone call data by US intelligence agencies is illegal and has had only “minimal” benefits in preventing terrorism, an independent US privacy watchdog has ruled.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board advised by a 3-2 majority that the programme should end.
The two dissenting voices are from Republicans who were Justice Department attorneys during the Hedgemony, and think at an advisory panel made up of lawyers, including a retired Appeals Court judge, shouldn’t be making determinations about the legality of the program. Excuse me, but as the panel’s experience and expertise is the law, not intelligence, why would anyone expect them not to deal with the legal issues?
Marcy Wheeler, Lambert, and Charlie Pierce all join me and dozens of others in noting that we have been saying this for years.
2 comments
Ahhh… yeah. *shrug*
See this? I’m amazed this wasn’t tried months ago. The USA is really slipping.
NSA files: Snowden says ‘I acted alone’ and rubbishes Russian spy claims
What a bunch of pathetic morons.
Oh, yes, ‘The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!”, another pathetic attempt to cover their slipshod security that made this possible. If they had really been operating according to their actual, official mandate, Snowden would have been picked up the second time he accessed something unusual. You reap what you sow, and they made networks vulnerable to make their other function easier, without thinking the problem through.