There is no way I am reading 196 pages, tonight, but if you’re up to it, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) has released its pre-release report: Report on the Surveillance Program Operated Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (pdf)
Spoiler alert, from the Executive Summary:
Overall, the Board has found that the information the program collects has been valuable and effective in protecting the nation’s security and producing useful foreign intelligence. The program has operated under a statute that was publicly debated, and the text of the statute outlines the basic structure of the program. Operation of the Section 702 program has been subject to judicial oversight and extensive internal supervision, and the Board has found no evidence of intentional abuse.
The Board has found that certain aspects of the program’s implementation raise privacy concerns. These include the scope of the incidental collection of U.S. persons’ communications and the use of queries to search the information collected under the program for the communications of specific U.S. persons. The Board offers a series of policy recommendations to strengthen privacy safeguards and to address these concerns.