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Federal Court Rules NSA Bulk Data Collection Illegal

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

AnonTechie writes:

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: 2) by CirclesInSand on Friday May 08 2015, @04:22AM

    by CirclesInSand (2899) on Friday May 08 2015, @04:22AM (#180191)

    What about when the supreme court ordered the TSA to inspect their body scanners before using them? The TSA ignored the supreme court for the better part of a year iirc. Can't find a good reference for it though.

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