Mass surveillance

US: Case Challenges Mass Internet Surveillance

At issue is the NSA’s “upstream” surveillance, which involves the NSA’s tapping into the internet backbone inside the United States – the physical infrastructure that carries Americans’ domestic and international online communications. The NSA conducts this spying under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the agency to engage in warrantless surveillance of Americans who communicate with targets located abroad. Section 702 is scheduled to expire at the end of 2017.

“Innocent people shouldn’t have to look over their shoulders when using the internet,” said ACLU attorney Patrick Toomey, who argued in court before a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. “The NSA is systematically searching online communications in real-time, invading Americans’ privacy on a massive scale. This illegal spying undermines constitutionally protected privacy and free speech rights.”