NSA's Internet monitoring said to be legal

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/2014/07/01/3543487/nsas-internet-monitoring-said.html?sp=/99/171/



FILE - This June 6, 2013 file photo shows a sign outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. The latest study of the the bipartisan Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board takes the opposite view of a different set of National Security Agency surveillance programs revealed last year by former NSA systems administrator Edward Snowden. The board which was to vote on the report on Wednesday, July 2, 2014, found that the NSA's collection of Internet data within the United States passes constitutional muster and employs "reasonable" safeguards designed to protect the rights of Americans. Last January, the first time the board dissected an NSA surveillance program, it found fundamental flaws.

NSA's Internet monitoring said to be legal
By KEN DILANIAN
AP Intelligence Writer
July 1, 2014 Updated 26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — The first time the bipartisan Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board dissected a National Security Agency surveillance program, it found fundamental flaws, arguing in a January report that the NSA's collection of domestic calling records "lacked a viable legal foundation" and should be shut down.

But in its latest study, the five-member board takes the opposite view of a different set of NSA programs revealed last year by former NSA systems administrator Edward Snowden.

The new report, which the board was to vote on Wednesday, found that the NSA's collection of Internet data within the United States passes constitutional muster and employs "reasonable" safeguards designed to protect the rights of Americans.

The board, whose members were appointed by President Barack Obama, largely endorsed a set of NSA surveillance programs that have provoked worldwide controversy since Snowden disclosed them. However, the board's report said some aspects of the programs raise privacy concerns meriting new internal intelligence agency safeguards.

[Pholus]

1. The Nixon "philosophy" at work....

http://blog.nixonfoundation.org/2008/10/if-the-president-does-it-that-means-its-legal/

[Eugene]

2. U.S. privacy board says NSA Internet spying program is effective but worrying

Source: Reuters

U.S. privacy board says NSA Internet spying program is effective but worrying

Wed Jul 2, 2014 6:04am EDT

(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)'s data collection program has been an effective tool to enhance the country's security but some elements of the cyber-spying raises privacy concerns, a U.S. federal privacy watchdog said in a report.

Privacy issues have become a hot topic since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed the spy agency's phone and Internet spying programs.

But the program has allowed the government to collect a greater range of foreign intelligence "quickly and effectively," the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board said in a report released on Wednesday.

It added, however, that certain aspects of the program raise questions about whether its impact on U.S. persons pushes it over the edge into "constitutional unreasonableness".

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/02/us-usa-security-internet-idUSKBN0F70U520140702