Heads Up: Appeals Court Battle Over NSA Surveillance coming on August 15

[chill_wind]

Appeals Court Battle Over NSA Surveillance on August 15

Government Aims to Block Accountability for Illegal Spying on Americans

San Francisco - In the wake of Congress approving a dramatic expansion of U.S. warrantless wiretapping powers, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the future of two critical lawsuits over illegal surveillance of Americans. The hearing is set for August 15, at 2 p.m. in San Francisco.

The government is fighting to get the cases thrown out of court, contending that the litigation jeopardizes state secrets. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is representing the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, which accuses the telecom giant of collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in illegal electronic surveillance of millions of AT&T's customers. The court will also hear the arguments on the future of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush, a case alleging that the government illegally wiretapped calls between the charity and its lawyers.

(snip)

The court has scheduled one hour of arguments for Hepting v. AT&T, and 40 minutes for Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush. Because of the large number of attendees expected at Wednesday's hearing, the court will provide an overflow room with audio and video of the proceedings for spectators who cannot get a seat in the courtroom itself.

For more information about attending the hearing, contact [e-mail].

WHAT:
Hepting v. AT&T
Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush

WHEN:
2 p.m.
Wednesday, August 15

WHERE:
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Courtroom 1, 3rd Floor
95 Seventh Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

For more on EFF's case against AT&T:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att

Contacts:

[chill_wind]

1. EFF Action Letter: Tell Congress to REPEAL the "Protect America Act"

Put Congress Back Into the Wiretapping Fight to Restore Your Rights


"I am a constituent, and I am outraged by the "Protect America Act," S. 1927, which undermined the Constitution and the privacy of Americans. I demand that this legislation be repealed and that Congress take immediate action to rein in the NSA's domestic spying activities and restore my fundamental rights.

After the President's unconscionable abuse of surveillance powers for nearly six years, how could you rubberstamp his demands? Congress hastily passed this legislation even though it is still lacking basic details about the NSA spying program.

Sacrificing all Americans' privacy in the name of national security doesn't make you appear strong and doesn't earn my support. Congress showed weakness in caving into the Administration's fearmongering.

The law has a weak sunset provision, but restoring protections for our fundamental rights shouldn't wait even a day. Please repeal this egregious expansion of spying powers. Before any new legislation is passed, Congress ought to thoroughly investigate the NSA spying program first and ensure the Administration is held accountable for breaking the law."

link to personalize and sign: https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr011=nzb4nkejp1.app13b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=270

[mvd]

2. Recommended!

:kick:

[chill_wind]

3. Thank you! 3 more needed so we can get this action letter seen and signed.

Thanks.

[chill_wind]

4. Kick me! n/t

[steven88]

5. I wonder if the new FISA law has weakened the case???

[chill_wind]

6. As I understand it, the new law fell short of retroactive immunity

for the telecommunications companies. But it WAS part of the package the WH was pushing.

Hepting v. AT&T
Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush

Per the EFF, both are still on. It will be another landmark day, whichever way it goes.


There is also a separate action against the DOJ regarding FBI surveillance.
There was a hearing held on an FOIA filing made by the EFF earlier in the spring. The hearing was held on July 23, about 2 weeks before the New FISA law was enacted. There is no update on the EFF site yet as to what happened in that hearing, but here is some more info:

Actually there are several! They are here in further detail:

FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government (FLAG) Project

FOIA Lawsuit re: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Orders

* Case page for FOIA Lawsuit re: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Orders


FOIA Lawsuit re: National Security Letters
April 10, 2007

* Case page for FOIA Lawsuit re: National Security Letters

FOIA Lawsuit re: NSA Surveillance
February 27, 2007

* FOIA complaint filed against DOJ for disclosure of court orders "authorizing" continuation of NSA domestic surveillance program
* Press Release: EFF Lawsuit Seeks Release of Secret Court Orders on Electronic Surveillance

links:
http://www.eff.org/flag/

[chill_wind]

7. Just a review...

"Stumbling Into a Spy Scandal
Ryan Singel Email 05.17.06 | 2:00 AM
AT&T whistle-blower Mark Klein says this secret room in an AT&T switching center is home to data-mining equipment that can spy on internet communications.


When former AT&T technician Mark Klein learned of a secret room installed in the company's San Francisco internet switching center, he was certain he had stumbled onto the Total Information Awareness program, a Defense Department research project that intended to scour databases across the country for telltale signs of terrorists.

Though the program had mostly been terminated by Congress in September 2003, portions of the program were allowed to continue.

Klein believed he had found these remnants, according to a written statement by Klein acquired by Wired News. AT&T built the secret room in 2003 and wired it up to receive a copy of the internet traffic running through its fiber-optic network, according to Klein's statement and accompanying documents. Inside the room, AT&T had installed routers, Sun Microsystems servers and traffic-analysis software from a company called Narus.

full story:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70910

See Also:

Court Deals AT&T a Setback

Stumbling Into a Spy Scandal

AT&T Whistle-Blower's Evidence

The Ultimate Net Monitoring Tool

The Eternal Value of Privacy

AT&T Seeks to Hide Spy Docs

Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

AT&T Sued Over NSA Eavesdropping

links to all stories above can be found at
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/05/70947