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Tag: phone records

  • NSA’s Bulk Phone Data Collection Illegal, Court Rules

    A federal appeals court has ruled that the bulk collections of your phone records is illegal.

    In a nearly 100-page ruling, the court vacated a lower court’s decision and stated that the bulk collection of metadata is not authorized by section 215 of The Patriot Act – the section upon which the surveillance programs have been operating for years.

    “The district court held that § 215 of the PATRIOT Act impliedly precludes judicial review; that plaintiffs‐appellants’ statutory claims regarding the scope of § 215 would in any event fail on the merits; and that § 215 does not violate the Fourth or First Amendments to the United States Constitution.  We disagree in part, and hold that § 215 and the statutory scheme to which it relates do not preclude judicial review, and that the bulk telephone metadata program is not authorized by § 215,” said the federal appeals court.

    The case was originally filed in 2013 by the ACLU, and subsequently thrown out. This ruling amends that error.

    “This appeal concerns the legality of the bulk telephone metadata collection program (the “telephone metadata program”), under which the National Security Agency (“NSA”) collects in bulk “on an ongoing daily basis” the metadata associated with telephone calls made by and to Americans, and aggregates those metadata into a repository or data bank that can later be queried.  Appellants challenge the program on statutory and constitutional grounds. Because we find that the program exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized, we vacate the decision below dismissing the complaint without reaching appellants’ constitutional arguments,” said Circuit judge Gerard E. Lynch.

    Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who has shepherded NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations to the public, was pleased with the ruling and suggested that it should make many rethink their views on Snowden.

    Rand Paul is already using the ruling in a campaign tweet:

    As Wired points out, this decision could pave the way for a full legal challenge of the NSA and its surveillance initiatives.

    You can read the entire ruling below:

    Clapper Ca2 Opinion

    Image via Trevor Paglen, Wikimedia Commons

  • Obama’s NSA Overhaul: Worth a Damn?

    After an outpouring of outrage from Americans about their loss of privacy, President Obama is calling on the NSA to change how it does business. The question is, “Will this make any real difference?”

    At the heart of most of the debate about the NSA’s bulk phone data collection practices is something called “metadata”. Essentially, this is information commonly collected by phone companies for billing and usage purposes. These can include:

    – incoming and outgoing telephone numbers for each call
    – codes that identify individual phones
    – the time and duration of the call

    We learned from Edward Snowden’s leaks that the NSA has been collecting and storing this information on every American since 9/11.

    According to Time Magazine, President Obama’s call for NSA “overhaul” basically puts an extra step between the NSA and that data from the phone companies. The data is still there, as it always was, but now requires a court order to retrieve. There is an exception made for cases of national emergency.

    “This ensures that government is not in possession of that bulk data,” Obama said. “I recognize that people were concerned about what might happen in the future with that bulk data. This proposal that’s been presented to me would eliminate that concern.”

    Some of the first questions that this brings up is: What constitutes a “national emergency”? Could it be virtually anything the NSA is investigating, given that their raison d’être is, by definition, “national security”? And how open-ended can their requests be? Under what circumstances might a court deny them access to the records they request? Any at all?

    Obama said the concern was that the government was “in possession of that bulk data.” So, is the answer to simply leave the data off-site, but easily accessible at whim?

    But even these nit-picking questions pale when we start asking: What about the other, scarier programs like RETRO, which we reported on here recently. The RETRO program records everything, not just metadata. The NSA can listen to any phone call. And not just in real-time. They have a 30-day buffer of calls waiting to be listened to.

    When faced with programs like this, isn’t quibbling over FISA Court-style permissions really just dickering around the edges of the problem? When someone has a key to your house, and is able to walk in and take whatever they like, you don’t argue about whether they can park along the curb while they are doing it.

    Does this really “eliminate that concern?”

    Image via YouTube

  • Bold Move: Lawyer Demands Phone Records from NSA to Prove Client’s Innocence

    Bold Move: Lawyer Demands Phone Records from NSA to Prove Client’s Innocence

    This is either the most brilliantly executed defensive move I’ve heard about in quite some time, or possibly the most ill-conceived air-grab since my buddy asked to read his wife’s texts “to prove she’s getting them ok.” Only time will tell.

    Another question to remand to the future historians – what’s the deal with the NSA’s recently revealed phone data collection program? Massive invasion of privacy? A necessary, albeit heavy-handed tactic in the ongoing fight against terrorists?

    I don’t know. I have opinions, but I don’t know. One thing I do know is that June 12th, 2013 will always be remembered as the day one defense attorney first turned the tables on the NSA’s no-longer-secret surveillance program.

    This is beautiful, really. Marshall Dore Louis, attorney for Florida’s Terrance Brown, has decided to use recent revelations to his avantage. “Oh, NSA, I hear you’re spying on all of our phone calls. Well, how bout you let me see what you found so I can prove my client’s innocence”* – or something like that.

    According to the Sun-Sentinel, Brown is one of five men accused of robbing a series of armored trucks making cash deliveries to banks a few years ago. The prosecution has been using phone records to prove that the men were all nearby when the robberies occurred.

    Well, the only problem is that prosecutors have been unable to obtain records for Brown during the period before September, 2010 (when at least one of the robberies took place). You see, Brown’s carrier, MetroPCS, simply doesn’t keep records that far back.

    But wait a minute. Louis says he wants those records to exonerate his client by proving he was nowhere near the area of the robbery at Lighthouse Point in July, 2010.

    “Who has extensive phone records on American citizens? Aha! The NSA of course! I just heard about that on the news.”**

    “The president of the United States has recognized this program has been ongoing since 2006…to gather the phone numbers [and related information] of everybody including my client in 2010,” Louis said.***

    He has a point. Imagine if this ploy actually worked. Seriously. Imagine it. Imagine lawyers all over the country asking the NSA to help prove their clients’ innocence.

    Imagine the NSA laughing and saying no. That’s a lot easier to imagine, I guess.

    ————

    * I don’t know what Mr. Louis was thinking. This is what I would have been thinking.
    ** Once again, I assume he must’ve had this train of thought. Just go with it, please.
    *** He really said that – in court on Wednesday.

    [Image via gadgetdan, Flickr]

  • NSA Will Be Collecting Verizon Customers’ Phone Records Daily Until July 19

    Are you on Verizon? If so, your phone records are now in the hands of the government.

    The Guardian got its hands on a secret FISA court order yesterday that reveals Verizon was forced to hand over customer metadata to the NSA. The order, which was granted on April 25, allows the NSA to collect daily information on Verizon’s 98.9 million subscribers until July 19.

    Here’s the relevant part of the leaked court order:

    It is hereby ordered that, the Custodian of Records shall produce to the National Security Agency upon service of this Order, and continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this Order, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, an electronic copy of the following tangible things: all call detail records or “telephony metadata” created by Verizon for communications (i) between the United States and abroad; or (ii) wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls.

    So, what does this metadata include:

    Telephony metadata includes comprehensive communications routing information, including but not limited to session identifying information (e.g., originating and terminating telephone number, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, International Mobile station Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, etc.), trunk identifier, telephone calling card numbers, and time and duration of call. Telephony metadata does not include the substantive content on any communication, or the name, address, or financial information of a subscriber or customer.

    The metadata being collected by the NSA doesn’t identify you by name, nor does it include your address. What’s the big problem then? The Guardian points out that information included in the metadata would allow the NSA to easily build “a comprehensive picture of who any individual contacted, how and when, and possibly from where.”

    By far, the most worrisome part about this order, however, is its scope. It’s pointed out that FISA court orders are usually issued to track a specific person. It’s rare to see the government collecting information on every single person. It’s also rare to see these orders collecting data from calls between two people in the U.S. FISA was originally established to track communications between those outside of the U.S. or one person in the U.S. communicating with a foreign entity. That is obviously no longer the case.

    It should also worry you that this is order only applies to a single carrier. It’s not out of the realm of reason to assume that there may be similar court orders floating around that compel other carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile and the like to turn over their metadata to the government as well.

    It’s sadly ironic then that all of this comes on the heels of the FCC announcing a vote to decide whether or not wireless carriers can share metadata with third parties. If confirmed, the new rules would require these carriers to seek your permission before sharing your metadata with advertisers, etc. Unfortunately, those same rules wouldn’t protect you when the NSA comes knocking.

  • Jessica Dorrell: Phone Records Indicate She was Heavily Involved with Petrino

    We reported to you earlier that Arkansas Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino hired Jessica Dorrell, his mistress, as the Student Athlete Development Coordinator four days before the motorcycle accident that revealed their relationship.

    Petrino was fired and has shamed his wife Becky and their four children.

    But apparently his relationship with Dorrell was more than just a fling. According to phone records, “Petrino and Dorrell exchanged more than 4,300 text messages and nearly 300 phone calls over the past seven months — on game days, before dawn and even as the police report that hastened his downfall was being released to the public.”

    The true victims in this entire affair are Mrs. Becky Petrino and her children.

    Before he was fired, 51-year-old Petrino was earning an average annual salary of $3.5 million; that is money that will be sorely missed — and if Becky decides to divorce her philandering hubby she will probably not get as big of a pay day. Too bad she didn’t find out before the accident.

    Check out this new ballad about Petrino:

    Twitter users laugh at the ex-coach’s expense:

    (image)@Josh_Ward
    Josh Ward    A lot of people liked @ChrisVernonShow‘s Bobby Petrino song we played today. Listen to it here: http://t.co/nijg2DlP(image) 16 hours ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@jeremyhinrichs5
    Jeremy Hinrichs    Look up the “Ballad of Bobby Petrino” and tell me it don’t change your life. I laughed for a solid 20 minutes(image) 9 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@teaguemx
    Michael A. Teague    @BamaJuggs @SUPERBRASH @JHolt71 Instant Classic *Ballad of Bobby Petrino* http://t.co/GJVH2pOO(image) 12 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Hogtrough
    Rob    I definitely couldn’t stop laughing. Thanks for helping. Ballad of Bobby Petrino http://t.co/lUkJdKDU(image) 5 days ago via Twitter for iPad ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@3HL1045
    Brent, Clay & Blaine    Outstanding! RT @ChrisVernonShow The Ballad of Bobby Petrino http://t.co/XmSQccpZ(image) 5 days ago via Tweetbot for iOS ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@DanWolken
    Dan Wolken    Genius RT @bharris901: RT @ChrisVernonShow: NEW SONG: “The Ballad of Bobby Petrino” —> http://t.co/Y31fw54f(image) 5 days ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Mrs. Petrino has been very quiet throughout the scandal.

    (image)

    Bobby is not in one single picture on his wife’s Facebook page.