NSA Surveillance Deemed Illegal
In a victory for the American people, a federal court has ruled that the National Security Agency policy of collecting information on every single phone call and text message made in the United States is illegal.
The Cato Institute reports that the ruling regarding the collection of metadata was handed down by the U.S. Appeals Court of the Second Circuit. Metadata refers to the phone numbers that make or receive calls, as well as information like the length of the phone call, according to the court's decision.
The court's decision is sure to recast the debate surrounding the collection of information about every single telephonic communication in the United States, according to Cato. Even active members of the intelligence community have begun to doubt the efficacy of the program. There is so much data to comb through that it is nearly impossible to draw relevant conclusions about who is a threat.
This was illustrated by a recent attack on a free speech event in Garland, TX. One of the two attackers had been convicted of trying to provide material support to terrorists abroad, yet despite this, and the fact the NSA actively collects every single piece of digital communication in the United States, the attackers were only thwarted by security at the event, rather than a preemptive sting operation.
Another important impact of the Second Circuit's ruling is that it gave citizens the right to contest the program by saying that the fact their information has been collected is enough harm to allow a legal challenge. To challenge the government in court, one must prove that they have been negatively impacted by the government's actions.
Previously, the government had successfully argued that people contesting the legality of the NSA program had no right to challenge the law because they could not provide concrete evidence they had been harmed. This ruling states that the collection itself is a grave enough violation of privacy to constitute harm. This will make future legal challenges to the program easier.
