German lawmakers probing the surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency have uncovered a legal loophole that allows the country's foreign intelligence agency to spy on its own citizens.

The agency, known by its German acronym BND, is normally forbidden from eavesdropping on Germans or German companies.

But a formerBNDlawyer told Parliament this week that Germans aren't protected while working abroad for foreign companies.

The government confirmed Saturday to The Associated Press that work-related calls or emails are attributed to the employer. If the employer is foreign, theBNDcan intercept them.

Opposition lawmakers have accused Germany's government of feigning outrage over allegedNSAspying while condoning illegal surveillance itself.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to U.S. President Barack Obama in October after receiving information her phone may have been monitored. (Michael Kappeler/Associated Press)

Chancellor AngelaMerkelcomplained to U.S. President Barack Obama in October after receiving information her phone may have been monitored.

News magazineDerSpiegel, whose research prompted the government's response, reported that a document apparently from anNSAdatabase indicatesMerkel'scellphone was first listed as a target in 2002.

The Obama administration's rebuttal to outrage has been that the U.S. is gathering foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations and that it's necessary to protect the U.S. and its allies against security threats.

Germany and France have demanded that the Obama administration agree by year's end to new rules that could mean an end to reported American eavesdropping on foreign leaders, companies and innocent citizens.

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House lawmakers are attempting to revive a popular bill that would limit the National Security Agency's ability to spy on Americans' communications data, a day after the measure was left out from ongoing government funding negotiations.

The measure, dubbed the Secure Data Act and spearheaded by Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, would block the NSA and other intelligence agencies from compelling tech companies to create so-called backdoor vulnerabilities into their devices or software. Sen. Ron Wyden, also a Democrat, introduced a similar version of the bill earlier Thursday.

A Lofgren aide said the bill is expected to be introduced later Thursday with Republican cosponsors.

A broader form of the legislation overwhelmingly passed the House in June with bipartisan support on a 293-123 vote, in the form of an amendment tacked on to a defense appropriations bill. That previous bill additionally would have prevented intelligence agencies from engaging in content surveillance of Americans' communications data without a warrant.

But the language was left out of ongoing negotiations between both chambers over a spending package that would fund most government agencies into next year. The House has additionally barred amendments to that omnibus measure, a common practice.

On Thursday, 30 civil-liberties groups of both liberal and conservative leanings wrote to House leadership to urge it to retain the proposal as part of its funding package.

"Failing to include this amendment in the forthcoming FY15 omnibus will send a clear message to Americans that Congress does not care if the NSA searches their stored communications or if the government pressures American technology companies to build vulnerabilities into their products that assist in NSA surveillance," read the letter, whose signatories include the Electronic Frontier Foundation and TechFreedom.

Despite the sudden push and the margin with which the bill passed this summer, it remains unlikely the bill will move forward in lame-duck session, given the closed amendment process on the funding proposals. Aides to both Lofgren and Wyden conceded the reintroduction was largely to set goalposts for negotiations next year.

Broader NSA reform efforts crumbled in the Senate last month, as the USA Freedom Act came up two votes short of advancing. The lack of NSA reform this year has many privacy advocates worried that their cause faces an uphill battle in 2015, as Republicans retake the Senate.

Key portions of the post-9/11 Patriot Act are due to expire in June of next year, however, including Section 215, which grants the government much of its bulk spying authority. Congress will have to reauthorize the provisions in some fashion or risk losing even greater surveillance authority.

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Lawmakers to Reintroduce Bill to Limit NSA Spying

Seattle, WA - infoZine - An appeals court will hear oral arguments in Smith v. Obama, a case filed by an Idaho nurse against a controversial National Security Agency (NSA) telephone data collection program, in Seattle on Monday, Dec. 8.

Anna Smith, a neonatal nurse from Coeur d'Alene, filed her lawsuit against President Barack Obama and several U.S. intelligence agencies in June 2013, shortly after the government confirmed that the NSA was collecting telephone records on a massive scale under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Smith, a Verizon customer, argues the program violated her Fourth Amendment rights by amassing a wealth of detail about her familial, political, professional, religious, and intimate associations. Following a district court ruling against Smith, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho joined the case as co-counsel in July 2014 to assist in crafting the appeal.

EFF presented appellate oral arguments in a similar case, Klayman v. Obama, last month. On Dec. 18, EFF will present arguments in San Francisco in Jewel v. NSA, asking the court to find that the NSA's mass copying of Internet communications violates the Fourth Amendment. EFF's other challenge to NSA surveillance, First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. NSA, remains pending before a trial judge.

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Oral Arguments in Idaho Woman's Case Against NSA Spying, Monday