NSA spying poses “direct threat to journalism …

By Kate Randall 14 February 2014

Massive spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) poses a direct threat to journalism, according to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released Wednesday. The CPJ is warning, in particular, that the agencys dragnet of communications data threatens to make it next to impossible for journalists to keep sources confidential.

New York-based CPJ devotes the first two chapters of its annual report, entitled Attacks on the Press, to an assessment of the impact of the NSAs vast data sweep, which has been exposed by Edward Snowden and reported by numerous media outlets. The report notes that by storing massive amounts of data for long periods, the spy agency could develop the capability to recreate a reporters research and retrace a sources movements by listening in on past communications.

The report points to the threat to press freedom in the context of the revelations of illegal government spying and the Obama administrations unprecedented campaign against whistle-blowers. It quotes William Binney, who resigned from the NSA in 2001 in protest over privacy violations the agency committed post-9/11. Binney believes that the government keeps tabs on all journalists and notes that they are a much easier, smaller target set to spy on than the general population.

Alex Abdo, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, one of a team of lawyers who have litigated against the NSA for violating constitutional protections, told the CPJ that all reporters should be worried about the NSAs vast collection and storage of data. Reporters who work for the largest media organizations should be worried probably primarily because their sources will dry up as those sources recognize that there is not a way to cover their trail, he said. He added that independent journalists should be concerned that they themselves will be swept up in the course of their reporting.

The watchdog group chillingly notes that the NSAs storage of metadata creates a deep breeding ground for artificial intelligence systems, which may in the future lead to more efficient, even predictive, spying machines. As capabilities evolve, CPJ warns, such systems could be utilized to identify patterns of journalistic activity, targeting reporters for surveillance, intimidation and potential prosecution long before they actually engage in any suspect reporting.

President Barack Obama has absurdly asserted that despite the exposure of programs to collect data on millions of Americans phone calls, emails and Internet activity, there is no evidence that the US intelligence complex has sought to violate the law.

Meanwhile, top NSA officials have indicated that the token reforms announced by the president last month will do little to curb the agencys spying activities. Theyre not putting us out business, commented NSA Deputy Director Rick Ledgett on the measures in a recent interview with the Washington Post. He added, Theyre not putting an unbearable burden on us.

Obama has tasked Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper to develop options by March 28 for ending the NSAs storage of data on Americans phone calls. So far, no such plan has been drawn up, and Congress must approve any changes to the agencys operations.

The presidents measures also include a requirement that the NSA obtain pro forma court approval before it can run a suspects phone number against the agencys database. However, even this largely cosmetic restriction is vitiated by a provision allowing the NSA to query the data without prior court approval by invoking an emergency exception.

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