This type of unjustifiable secrecy has also helped the program evade public judicial review of its legality because the government almost never tells people that it spied on them without a warrant. Indeed, the government has a track record of failing to tell Americans about this spying even when the person is charged with a crime based on the surveillance.
In this case, the government accused a Brooklyn man, Agron Hasbajrami, of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization in Pakistan. After he pleaded guilty to one of the charges, the government belatedly admitted that it had read through his emails without a warrant. Now Mr. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are supporting him as friends-of-the-court, arguing that the surveillance was unconstitutional the brief we filed is here.
It is conducted under a controversial law known as Section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Relying on Section , the government intercepts billions of international communications — including many sent or received by Americans — and it hunts through them in investigations that have nothing to do with national security.
If this program is indeed dormant, the government should let it stay that way until the law underpinning it expires. Congress should also look hard at other surveillance activities that may trample rights domestically and abroad.
As the experience with the domestic call-records program shows, government claims that spying activities are justified should not be taken at face value — and the intrusion on rights should be taken seriously. International Alternatives to Detaining Immigrants. Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Join our movement today.
Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work. Human Rights Watch. Donate Now. Your tax deductible gift can help stop human rights violations and save lives around the world. More Reading. All of these surveillance activities are in violation of the privacy safeguards established by Congress and the US Constitution.
In early , EFF obtained whistleblower evidence. Secret government documents, published by the media in , confirm the NSA obtains full copies of everything that is carried along major domestic fiber optic cable networks. In June , the media, led by the Guardian and Washington Post started publishing a series of articles, along with full government documents, that have confirmed much of what was reported in and and then some. The reports showed-and the government later admitted—that the government is mass collecting phone metadata of all US customers under the guise of the Patriot Act.
Moreover, the media reports confirm that the government is collecting and analyzing the content of communications of foreigners talking to persons inside the United States, as well as collecting much more, without a probable cause warrant. Klein first revealed in EFF is fighting these illegal activities in the courts.
Currently, EFF is representing victims of the illegal surveillance program in Jewel v. NSA , a lawsuit filed in September seeking to stop the warrantless wiretapping and hold the government and government officials behind the program accountable.
In July , a federal judge ruled that the government could not rely on the controversial "state secrets" privilege to block our challenge to the constitutionality of the program. This case is being heard in conjunction with Shubert v.
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