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posted by CoolHand on Thursday May 07 2015, @05:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the yay-for-the-courts dept.

Wired is reporting:

THE UNITED STATES Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on Thursday that the bulk collection of phone metadata by the NSA was illegal under federal law.

Rather than address the constitutionality of the program, the court took a much simpler tack. The decision concludes that the practice is beyond the scope of what the US Congress had in mind when it passed section 215 of the Patriot Act after September 11, 2001.

The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and had been dismissed in 2013 by a lower court. Today's ruling vacates that decision, and could pave the way for a full legal challenge of NSA collection methods, which were first brought to light by Edward Snowden.

Also at: The Intercept, EFF, El Reg, BBC, NYT.

 
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  • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday May 07 2015, @09:43PM

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Thursday May 07 2015, @09:43PM (#180079)

    Yeah, you are right. But I am still allowed to be pissed off that our own government works so hard to subvert our own laws.

    --
    "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Friday May 08 2015, @01:30PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 08 2015, @01:30PM (#180302) Journal

    Please do. But don't feel the situation is hopeless. That just makes it easier for them.