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11-22-2013, 08:07 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/22/us-usa-security-aclu-idUSBRE9AL10T20131122
More at the link:
The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday urged a federal judge to halt a U.S. spy agency's sweeping collection of telephone data, arguing that the program goes beyond what Congress authorized and violates the constitutional rights of Americans.
"If you accept the government's argument, you are accepting a dramatic expansion in the government's investigative power," Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney, told U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan.
The U.S. Justice Department argued that the National Security Agency's collection of such "metadata" is permissible under the law and essential to the government's counterterrorism efforts.
"It's authorized by statute, and it's constitutional," said Justice Department lawyer Stuart Delery, who asked Pauley to throw out the ACLU's lawsuit.
Pauley did not say when he will rule.
The ACLU filed its legal challenge in June, soon after U.S. officials acknowledged that the NSA spy agency is gathering metadata - the phone numbers called and the time and duration of each call - of Americans' phone calls from the nation's telecommunications providers.
More at the link:
The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday urged a federal judge to halt a U.S. spy agency's sweeping collection of telephone data, arguing that the program goes beyond what Congress authorized and violates the constitutional rights of Americans.
"If you accept the government's argument, you are accepting a dramatic expansion in the government's investigative power," Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney, told U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan.
The U.S. Justice Department argued that the National Security Agency's collection of such "metadata" is permissible under the law and essential to the government's counterterrorism efforts.
"It's authorized by statute, and it's constitutional," said Justice Department lawyer Stuart Delery, who asked Pauley to throw out the ACLU's lawsuit.
Pauley did not say when he will rule.
The ACLU filed its legal challenge in June, soon after U.S. officials acknowledged that the NSA spy agency is gathering metadata - the phone numbers called and the time and duration of each call - of Americans' phone calls from the nation's telecommunications providers.