FAQ on NSA Spying (General Questions)

What is the NSA domestic spying program?

In October 2001, President Bush issued a secret presidential order authorizing the NSA to conduct a range of surveillance activities inside of the United States without statutory authorization or court approval, including electronic surveillance of Americans telephone and Internet communications. This program of surveillance continues through today, although the legal justifications have changed over time, and works with the major telecommunications and Internet companies.

In 2005, after the New York Times broke the story of the surveillance program, the President publicly admitted one portion of itwarrantless surveillance of Americans believed to be communicating with people connected with terrorism suspectsSenior Bush Administration officials later confirmed that the Presidents authorization went beyond the surveillance of terrorists and conceded that the program did not comply with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The President, invoking a theory of limitless executive power to disregard the mandates of Congress, reauthorized this warrantless surveillance more than thirty times, including after the Department of Justice found the program to violate criminal laws. President Obama has continued the program, but with differing secret legal justifications. Obama has given no public legal justification for it and, in some situations, appears to be strategically denying certain portions of it. For other portions, including the collection of telecommunications records, the Obama Administration said it could neither confirm nor deny its actions until May, 2013, when the DNI finally admitted additional portions of it. Members of Congress have confirmed that additional domestic surveillance by the NSA still remains a secret.

Shortly after the initial revelations, a whistleblower named Mark Klein came forward with evidence describing the specific AT&T facilities, including one on Folsom Street in San Francisco, where the handoff of customer communications is occurring. Mr. Klein's evidence confirmed what was already indicated by numerous newspaper reports and Congressional admissionsthat the NSA is intercepting and analyzing millions of ordinary Americans' communications off of the fiber optic cables that carry our communications, with the help of the country's largest phone and Internet companies. EFF has brought two lawsuits to stop this illegal surveillance. In 2012, three NSA whistleblowers came forward to confirm Mr. Kleins evidence, as well as other information about the warrantless surveillance.

Today, the warrantless surveillance program started under Bush remains largely intact under the Obama administration, and, in June 2013, reports in the Guardian and Washington Post confirmed key facts alleged in our cases, and provided supporting documents.

While the full legal justifications remain secret, the Obama administration apparently uses strained interpretations of the Patriot Act and FISA Amendments Act to try to justify the mass collection of data on US persons, but the reality is the same as it was under the Bush administration: these program are illegal and unconstitutional.

Click here for a complete overview of the NSA Domestic Spying program.

What do the cases claim about the interception of domestic communications of millions of Americans?

The Jewel v. NSA case alleges that the government, in coordination with AT&T, intercepts communications (like phone calls and emails), and that AT&T illegally discloses communications records to the government. The core component of the surveillance is the government's nationwide network of sophisticated communications surveillance equipment, attached to the key facilities of telecommunications companies such as AT&T that carry Americans' Internet and telephone communications.

Link:
NSA Spying FAQ | Electronic Frontier Foundation

A "spiral of silence" has arisen on social media since NSA spying revelations emerged from Edward Snowden last year, according to a new study.

A "spiral of silence" has arisen on US social media since government spying revelations emerged from Edward Snowden last year, according to a new study.

Pew Research found that people were less likely to post their views or concerns about NSA surveillance on Facebook and Twitter than in person, due to fears that their views are not widely shared.

Around 86% of people surveyed for the study - which questioned 1,801 US adults in August and September last year - said that they were willing to have an in-person conversation about the surveillance program, but only 42% of Facebook and Twiter users were willing to post about it online.

The findings also reveal that this unwillingness to talk can spread from the online to the offline world.

"The typical Facebook user - someone who logs onto the site a few times per day - is half as likely to be willing to have a discussion about the Snowden-NSA issues at a physical public meeting as a non-Facebook user.

Professor Keith Hampton, one of the co-authors of the report, warned that the findings suggested a lack of public discussion on important issues.

"This kind of self-censoring can mean that important information is never shared," Hampton said. "Some had hoped that social media might provide new outlets that encourage more discussion and the exchange of a wider range of opinions. But we see the opposite - a spiral of silence exists online, too." International Business Times

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Social media 'silence' after NSA leaks