Mike Scarcella reports: A Latham & Watkins associate this week was back in court fighting to salvage a suit alleging the government unlawfully wiretapped and watched a man after he made a passing remark about airline security on the telephone. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit earlier this year had ruled in…
Category: Surveillance
Round-Up of Reactions to PATRIOT Vote
Kevin Bankston of EFF provides a round-up of reactions to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on a bill reauthorizing portions of the PATRIOT Act that were set to expire this year: Yesterday, as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to recommend and send to the Senate floor a USA PATRIOT Act renewal bill lacking critical civil…
UPDATE: Govt. files emergency motion to delay release of FOIA documents
Marcia Hoffman writes: A couple weeks ago we told you about a victory in our long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation for documents detailing telecommunications carriers’ lobbying efforts to get off the hook for their role in the government’s warrantless electronic surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans. On September 24, a federal judge ordered…
Senate committee passes bill to reauthorize Patriot Act provisions
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to approve legislation to reauthorize expiring provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act and improve oversight of several tools used to gather intelligence. The USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act reauthorizes three provisions of the Patriot Act that are set to expire at the end of the year:…