Ryan Singel and David Kravets live blogged the US 9th Circuit hearing on the NSA’s spying and AT&T’s alleged role in it. The back story is that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) accused AT&T of collaborating with the NSA to illegally track domestic and foreign communications. The Justice Dept wants to keep everything hush hush as a matter of national security - which is also the reason AT&T cites for not being able to properly defend themselves.
In a separate, but parallel case also heard today and brought by the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, the plaintiffs claim the government mistakenly provided them with a document that proved they were under surveillance without court warrants. The government quickly reclaimed the document and refuses to release it because it “remains totally classified.”
Both were in court today so the 9th Circuit court should decide soon whether or not to dismiss the case. More articles about the ongoing case:
- Lawsuits May Illuminate Methods of Spy Program
- U.S. Defends Surveillance to 3 Skeptical Judges
- Analysis: Some Secret Documents Are Too Secret Even for Critical Judges
- How Lawyer Navigates Sea of Secrecy in Bizarre Case
- Appeals court may let NSA lawsuits proceed
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