Bush-Era Warrantless Wiretapping Program on Trial Tomorrow in Seattle

[cory777]

Source: Seattle Weekly

Big Brother really is watching you. And reading your e-mails. And tracking which websites you visit. According to the court testimony of a former AT&T technician, there is a secret room--the "SG-3 Room"--in the company's San Francisco offices that is occupied by the National Security Agency. All Internet traffic AT&T receives is filtered through high-powered NSA computers there, and the machines sort through the communications of "millions of ordinary Americans" searching for . . . something. Perhaps a terror plot, perhaps which library books you're checking out. No one is quite sure what they're after, but the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU are fighting an ongoing legal battle with the government and AT&T in attempt to establish some sort of accountability for the domestic spy program.

Two key appeals cases will be heard in Seattle federal court tomorrow. The first, Jewel v. NSA, was filed by the EFF in 2006, "on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records." The case also targets former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's former chief of staff David Addington, and former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales--the officials who authorized the NSA wiretapping.

The second case, Hepting v. AT&T, covers much the same ground. Also filed in 2006, the EFF is again suing on behalf of AT&T customers, alleging that the telecommunications company violated privacy laws "by collaborating with the NSA in the massive, illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications."

Both cases have previously been dismissed by judges in lower courts. In the Jewel case, the Bush administration argued that the litigation would force the government to disclose "state secrets." The Obama administration used the same argument again in 2009, and a District Court judge eventually dismissed the case on the grounds that, because millions of Americans had been spied upon, no single American had standing to sue.

Read more: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/08/bush-era_warrantless_wiretappi.php

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Breaking Activist News http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[OnyxCollie]

1. K&R. nt

[No Elephants]

2. Yet another legal case involving Constitutional rights in which

Obama's D of J took the exact same position as Bush's D of J.

And, so, whether a judge is Republicon or Democrat, he or she has a President to protect.

How dangerous is this excuse: "We did it to millions of Americans, so no one has the right to sue over it?"

BTW, "'Bush Era' Warrantless Wiretapping? So, all that stuff ended in January 2009? Cool beans, right?

[VWolf]

5. We did it to millions of Americans,

so no one has the right to sue over it.

Yeah, that's pretty twisted logic.

[Syrinx]

3. rec and kick

[naaman fletcher]

4. The only company that resisted this was Qwest.

Not surprisingly, the CEO at the time is now in jail.

[jtrockville]

11. And they lost all their government contracts.

The companies who complied fared much better. I guess crime pays, and pays pretty well.

[fasttense]

6. President Obama and many other political leaders voted for the telecoms immunity act

which updates the FISA law. But, and here is the kicker, it does NOT provide immunity without a warrant.

[No Elephants]

9. Do you have a link to support for that?

And to be clear, are we talking a warrant for each person, or are we talking approval by the FISA court of the procedures to be used for mass spying?

No matter how you cut it, though, the Act greatly expanding the ability of the President to snoop and greatly protected the phone companies.

[Arctic Dave]

7. If my name is on the list I will have no problem at all sueing the government.

And to think we are murdering thousands of peoploe around the world so we can bring them "freedom". Maybe we need to clean up our backyard first.


Any of the Libya coup supporters want to go on record as how we are more free then then the Libyan?

[No Elephants]

10. What good is suing if the court throws out your case for lack of standing, though?

All that will happen is that you'll run up a bunch of fees for nothing.

I agree that we should have brought freedom to the U.S. before we tried to give it to Iraq. Now, they hate us for our lack of freedoms.

Well, that and we tore up their country and killed their people to increase the value of Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock options.

$500 million dollar buildings, bridges that kept getting blown up (by whom?) and re-built, and so on. Sah-weet!

(Typo edit)

[BetsysGhost]

8. Good news cory777, thanks for the post.

[progressoid]

12. "Bush era"??

Don't think it ended when Bush left office.

[readmoreoften]

13. Why is this "Bush Era"? It's just as bad or worse under Obama.

wearemany.org

Check out Glenn Greenwald's HOUR LONG take down of Obama's security state.