Appeals court okays continuing NSA surveillance program
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The Sixth Circuit courts of appeals has ruled that a controversial NSA domestic surveillance program ruled illegal by a Michigan judge can continue while the various appeals underway make their way through the system.
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The U.S. Congress has granted a temporary 15-day extension to a controversial law that allows the government to conduct telephone surveillance on suspected terrorists without first obtaining a court warrant.
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A US court strikes down parts of the Patriot Act allowing the FBI to secretly access internet records.
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Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified yesterday that top congressional leaders from both parties agreed in March 2004 to continue a classified surveillance activity that Justice Department officials had deemed illegal, a contention immediately disputed by key Democratic lawmakers.
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A White House-backed bill that would   enable a secret court to review President George W. Bush's   warrantless domestic spying program won approval on Wednesday   from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. House of Representatives Committee has approved a controversial bill that would broaden the U.S. government's ability to conduct electronic surveillance on U.S. residents by making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to get court-issued warrants. The Electronic Modernization Surveillance Act,Â opposed by several privacy groups, would also allow federal law enforcement officials to spy on U.S. residents for up to 90 days without a court order in the period after a terrorist attack. The House Judiciary Committee approved the legislation Wednesday by a 20-16 vote, with all committee Democrats present voting against the bill. The bill, sponsored by Representative Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican, would reduce the amount of information required from federal agents applying for a wiretapping warrant from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The bill would clarify that the U.S. government can seek wiretaps on any type of electronic communication, not just telephone- or radio-spectrum-based communication. Republicans praised the bill, saying it will help the U.S. government fight terrorism. The bill will provide the U.S. intelligence agencies "greater agility and flexibility as they try to thwart our determined and dangerous terrorist enemies," Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a statement. The full House is expected to vote on the bill by the end of the month. The committee's action comes after U.S. President George Bush called on Congress to approve a controversial electronic surveillance program conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA has conducted the program, reportedly targeting U.S. residents speaking with foreigners who have suspected terrorism connections, without getting court warrants. Bush has asked Congress to authorize the NSA program to ward off multiple court challenges against it. In August, a U.S. judge in Michigan ruled the NSA program is illegal and must be halted. The Bush administration has appealed that ruling. The Senate Judiciary CommitteeÂ approved three surveillance billsÂ last week. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy and civil liberties advocacy group, called the Wilson bill and the Senate's National Security Surveillance Act two of the worst bills now in Congress. "Couched in the seemingly laudable terms of 'modernization,' the bills would radically undermine the privacy of innocent Americans -- not just by legitimizing the administration's warrantless surveillance programs -- but by granting this and future administrations even broader authority to spy on Americans in the United States without judicial review," the CDT said on its Web site.
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New Jersey has the right to obtain information about a federal domestic surveillance program because that program is no longer a secret, the state argued in response to federal efforts to quash its investigation.
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update A federal appeals court has upheld a controversial court decision that said file-sharing software programs such as Grokster or Morpheus are legal.
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The federal government is urging an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, warning that disclosure of such activities could compromise national security.
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The federal judge who ordered a halt to   the Bush administration's program of domestic wiretapping on   Thursday allowed the surveillance to continue for a week to   allow an appeals court to weigh in on an issue expected to end   up with the U.S. Supreme Court.
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The Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that telecommunications companies assisted the government's warrantless surveillance program and were being sued as a result, an admission some legal experts say could complicate the government's bid to halt numerous lawsuits challenging the...
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A divided federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit Friday challenging President Bush's domestic spying program without ruling on the issue of whether warrantless wiretapping is legal.
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The U.S. Interior Department can keep its computers connected to the Internet despite the fact that hackers could manipulate royalty payments owed to American Indians for use of their land, an appeals court ruled Friday.
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The U.S. government can continue to eavesdrop on Americans' overseas phone calls and e-mails until its appeal of a judge's ruling outlawing the surveillance is decided, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.
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A White House privacy board has determined that two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs &#151; electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking &#151; do not violate citizens' civil liberties.
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Washington can continue wiretapping without warrants until its appeal against a ban on the practice is heard, a US court rules.   A US government wiretap scheme breaches the constitution and should be halted at once, a judge says.
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The Justice Department launched an appeal within hours of a federal judge's ruling that, for the first time, struck down President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program as an unconstitutional infringement on the right to privacy and free speech.