statism watch

Flashback: Showdown in NSA Wiretap Case: Judge Threatens Sanctions Against Justice Department | NSA Surveillance Exploding, Americans Wiretapped Beyond Congressional Limits | Put NSA in Charge of Cyber Security, Or the Power Grid Gets It | Following Bush lead, Obama moves to block challenge to wiretapping program | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | Obama tries to kill lawsuit challenging wiretapping program, fails | New law to give police access to online exchanges | Whistleblower: NSA even collected credit card records | RCMP to helm a Canadian “cyber-security strategy” | Big brother to track all emails, internet history and telephone calls under UK plan | Bush approves surveillance bill | Sweden approves wiretapping law | Secretive Canadian spy agency to get $62-million HQ | Whistle-Blower: Feds Have a Backdoor Into Wireless Carrier — Congress Reacts

David Kravets, Wired.com
June 3, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits targeting the nation’s telecommunication companies for their participation in President George W. Bush’s once-secret electronic eavesdropping program.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker upheld summer legislation protecting the companies from the lawsuits. The legislation, which then-Sen. Barack Obama voted for, also granted the government the authority to monitor American’s telecommunications without warrants if the subject was communicating with somebody overseas suspected of terrorism. [Ed. Note: Not true, they're hoovering up everything.]

Bush acknowledged the so-called Terror Surveillance Program in December 2005, and claimed as chief executive, his war powers gave him the authority to spy without court authorization. [Ed. Note: There was never a declaration of war by congress. Can't have it both ways, fascist.]

Walker’s decision (.pdf), if it survives, ends more than three years of litigation accusing the nation’s carriers of funneling Americans’ electronic communications to the Bush administration without warrants in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The ruling also means that the public may never know how the Bush White House coaxed the telecoms to participate in the program without court warrants, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation alleged in a lawsuit lodged in federal court here three years ago.

“Congress has manifested its unequivocal intention to create an immunity that will shield the telecommunications company defendants from liability in these actions,” Walker wrote.

The legislation at issue in the case was crafted after Walker had refused to dismiss the lawsuit the EFF brought in 2006 against AT&T. At the time, Walker’s initial decision allowing the case to go forward was idling on appeal before the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning the merits of the lawsuit have never been addressed. All of the nation’s leading telecommunication companies have been added to the litigation.

The Bush administration and then the Obama administration argued that the original case should be dismissed on grounds that it threatened to expose government secrets, a legal privilege judges routinely rubber stamp. The EFF, in a bid to revive the lawsuit, challenged the immunity legislation on grounds that Congress was prohibited from legislating what the EFF termed was unconstitutional activity by the telecommunication companies.

“We’re disappointed,” said Cindy Cohn, the EFF’s legal director. “We think the judge is wrong.”

She said the EFF would appeal the decision to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The EFF crafted the initial lawsuit around a former AT&T technician’s documentation suggesting that AT&T customers’ electronic communications were siphoned to the National Security Agency without warrants.

Still, while the lawsuits targeting the telecommunications appear all but dead, litigation testing the president’s authority to spy on Americans without warrants is alive and well in a different lawsuit before Walker.

That suit involves two American lawyers accidentally given a “top secret” document showing they were eavesdropped on by the government when working for a now-defunct Islamic charity in 2004. The case tests whether a sitting U.S. president may bypass Congress — in this case, whether President Bush abused his power by authorizing his secret spying program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

During a hearing before Walker in that case hours after his telecom ruling, the judge decided to set a Sept. 1 hearing in which he’ll decide whether the charity’s former lawyers have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.

At least for now, the once-secret documents are not part of the case because the government has declared them a state secret. Walker, despite his earlier threats, on Wednesday refused to order them as part of the case.

Two weeks ago, he also suggested he might summarily decide the lawsuit against the government as a sanction for its refusal to help craft a so-called protective order that would lead to the documents being disclosed to the plaintiffs’ attorneys only.

Instead, Walker said Wednesday he would hold a September hearing and rule on whether the case could proceed and be litigated on the merits without the documents.

“The content of the sealed document will not be a part of the court’s decision,” Walker said.

Either way, the judge noted that the appellate courts, and perhaps the Supreme Court, would have the final say on the matter.

“We’ll just see how this plays out,” Walker said from the bench.

Source | See Also under Surveillance: UK schoolkids trained to inform on ‘extremist’ classmates by police DVD | UK Schoolkids Protest CCTV, Hidden Microphones in Class | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | Homeland Security to scan fingerprints of travellers exiting the US | UK recruits an army of snoopers with police-style powers | Showdown in NSA Wiretap Case: Judge Threatens Sanctions Against Justice Department | Surveillance plane tagged wrong car, seized for street racing, woman says | New US border technology directed at insidious threat: Canadians | UK installing license plate scanning network | Toronto police board challenges chief on CCTV deterrence, demands ‘phase-in’ | UK: Retaining images from surveillance of protesters ruled illegal | Police laud Toronto surveillance cameras, critics not so sure | Google PowerMeter to track home energy usage in Toronto test drive | Next up for France: police keyloggers and Web censorship | Clinton defends new border restrictions | Criminologists: CCTV schemes in city and town centres have little effect on crime | Saudi files for ‘killer’ tracking chip patent | ‘Smart meters’ set to boost prices, track your power consumption by time of day in Toronto | France passes ‘three strikes’ Internet surveillance law | UK: New biometric security checks could include brain scans, heart rhythm fingerprinting | SMS texts being data mined in France: Man strip searched, held after joke | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | UK wants industry to track Internet users as plans scrapped for state database | Military’s ‘Polar Breeze’ cloaked in secrecy | Australian nightclub installs face-scanning security system | UK: Children to be tracked by sat nav to stop bad behaviour | NSA Surveillance Exploding, Americans Wiretapped Beyond Congressional Limits | Microchip in a pill to monitor your meds | French legislators reject internet piracy bill | Trash search doesn’t violate privacy rights, says top court | Following Bush lead, Obama moves to block challenge to wiretapping program | UK: Big Brother row as police start using camera cars to fine wayward drivers | Britons block Google Street View van | NYPD seeks to expand anti-terror program to midtown | Big Brother is watching: surveillance box to track drivers is backed | Munk Centre researchers discover botnet, call for international cyberspace ‘legal regime’ | Britain may snoop on social websites | London Police Encourage Citizens To Inform on Neighbour’s Garbage | Google Street View comes to Canada | Right to privacy broken by a quarter of UK’s public databases, says report | UK Home Secretary unveils civilian anti-terrorism security force | Pre-Olympic transit ads encourage citizen surveillance | Security certificate detainee requests prison over intrusions on family | Smart licences now available for border-hopping Quebecers | Homeland Security seeks Bladerunner-style lie detector | Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights | Internet ad tracking system will put a ’spy camera’ in the homes of millions, warns founder of the web | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | TASER launches new headcam for police – with ‘privacy mode’ | French government accused of ‘Big Brother’ tactics over internet piracy | UK police maintain databank on thousands of protesters | Military may patrol bar zone in Barrie | UK: Civil servants attacked for using anti-terror laws to spy on public | UK: Government ‘using fear as a weapon to erode civil liberties’ | Obama tries to kill lawsuit challenging wiretapping program, fails | UK security whitepaper urges ‘end of privacy’| Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes | US Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Schools seek more police as crime drops | Former MI5 chief: UK Ministers ‘using fear of terror’ to restrict civil rights | U.S. set to launch Predator drones to monitor Manitoba border | UK: Calling the police to account for anti-photography law | UK: Landlord fights police plan for CCTV at pub | The Spy Factory: The New Thought Police| New law to give police access to online exchanges | Security cameras proposed for downtown Sydney | Obama’s Change: Expanding the Power of the NSC and Shadow Government | UK House of Lords warns over ’surveillance state’ | Electronic immunization records needed: Toronto health official | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens | UK Terror Law To Make Photographing Police Illegal | Montreal in bid to unmask protesters | Whistleblower: NSA even collected credit card records | UK-Irish travellers to face passport checks | Let’s face it, soon Big Brother will have no trouble recognising you | U.S. visitors now required to register online with Department of Homeland Security | GPS wristwatch helps parents track children | Regulator will force cellphone companies to adopt GPS tracking system | Military challenge: Make spy data more accessible | EU Police set to step up warrantless hacking of home PCs | UK: ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Private firm may administer UK surveillance database | Toronto surveillance project to enter new phase pending review | CSIS monitoring calls between suspects and their lawyers| Military Tech on the Home Front: Predator drones to begin surveillance of Canada-US border | Supreme Court set to consider privacy rights | Has your child been CAFed? How the Government plans to record intimate information on every child in Britain | SWAT Teams raiding Amish, Food Co-ops in Rural US | Cyberbullying verdict turns rule-breakers into criminals | Drug-sniffing dog plan for BC SkyTrain unconstitutional: legal critics | UK Big Brother police to get ‘war-time’ power to demand ID in the street | Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons | London musicians expected to disclose ethnicity, 8 pages of personal information to perform | Canada backpedals on sharing ID database with U.S. | Former US congresswoman, presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney barred from boarding plane to human rights conference | Retired B.C. woman surprised to find herself on international no-fly list | Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring | Queen’s proposed thought-crime cadres prove controversial | Tribunal shouldn’t police online hate, report says | U.S. air-security rules cause Canadian turbulence | Social services set up CCTV camera in couple’s bedroom | IMF: G20 meeting underscores need for greater surveillance, changes in global governance | Coming soon to your cellphone: Your credit card via RFID chip | Flaherty calls for mandatory IMF surveillance | Halifax thinks again about subjecting applicants to lie-detector tests | Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship | Parents, children to be fingerprinted at initial 250+ nursery schools in UK | Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street, vendors say face scanning next | Germany rejects full-body scans at airports | US military targets social nets | Homeland Security Assuming Broad Powers, Turning Swaths of U.S. into “Constitution-Free Zone”| Interpol wants facial recognition database to catch suspects | UK Shortly to Become Worse Surveillance Society than Stasi East Germany | Feds give customs agents free hand to seize travelers’ documents | ‘Pre-crime’ detector shows promise | American Rail Passengers Subject to Random Searches, Police Presence | Troops in the Streets: Army Brigades Standing By to Assist in Disasters, Help Quell Dissent | Two trustees stand opposed to armed police in schools | How Big Brother watches your every move | Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along border | Secret EU security draft risks uproar with call to pool policing and give US personal data | Vision 2015: Consolidation of U.S. Intelligence Into Global Intel Network | U.S. border agents given power to seize travellers’ laptops, cellphones | Saskatchewan adopting US-mandated ID card, to include RFID chip, facial recognition | Eye scans, fingerprints to control NZ borders | UK Surveillance Commissioner calls for intelligence officers to work with municipalities | Britain considers giant database of all phone calls, EMails, browsing history | Bush approves surveillance bill | Air Canada objects to US plans to fingerprint exiting foreigners | Air passengers to undergo ‘virtual strip search’ | Sweden approves wiretapping law | Could humiliation be the next weapon in our war on crime? | Ottawa Proposes Band-Aid ‘Bill of Rights’ for Airline Travellers | Opposition to proposed Swedish surveillance law mounts | Sweden sets sights on new ‘catch and release’ wiretap law | Mobile Phone Users Secretly Tracked for Behaviorist Study | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | US Homeland Security Keen on ‘Novel’ Israeli Airport Security Technology | Tanks, Face-Scanning Cameras Part of ‘Discreet’ 2010 Games Security | Secretive Canadian spy agency to get $62-million HQ | Ontario Privacy Czar Worried about High-Tech Licences | Criticism for ‘UK database’ plan | Border ‘two-headed monster,’ industry minister says | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | PM voices concerns about ‘thickening’ of U.S. border | Airport scanner a ‘virtual strip search’ | U.S. to collect DNA at border | Whistle-Blower: Feds Have a Backdoor Into Wireless Carrier — Congress Reacts | Surveillance cameras to keep an eye on downtown Calgary | Canada on way to brave new world of surveillance | Canada working with FBI on ’server in the sky’ | FBI wants instant access to British, Canadian identity data | Privacy issues surround planned TTC cameras | Listening in on the enemy: Canada’s master eavesdroppers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 8:02 pm and is filed under law, privacy, surveillance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.