“If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects.”—Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis What characterizes American government today is not so much dysfunctional politics as it is...
Congress Must Act on Warrantless Wiretapping
As Congress and the president rush to re-authorize the dangerous FISA Amendments Act — the law shamefully passed after pressure to legalize certain portions of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program — EFF has been sounding the alarm that Americans’ communications...
Four More Years of Warrantless Surveillance
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) established a panel of judges (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) who were empowered to issue warrants to federal government organizations, including the National Security Agency, to enable them to...
Government Forced to Release Docs on Spying Program
Last week's release of 900 pages of U.S. government documents dealing with the implementation of the nation's primary surveillance law suggests that the government has been systematically violating the privacy rights of U.S. citizens. How many citizens is unclear,...
Judge Rebukes Bush-Era Spying Program
The efforts of the Barack Obama administration to maintain the secrecy of the counterterrorism policies of its predecessor, the administration of former President George W. Bush, hit a major speed bump last week. On March 31, a federal judge ruled that the National...