PRISM

[ZenGum]

Okay, I'll admit that when I started this thread, I was not clear about what was going on and what was properly controversial and what was not.

This article from the New York Times captures what I think is most worrying. It is the failure of the oversight mechanisms (esp FISA) that are supposed to keep bodies like the NSA in check.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us...rs-of-nsa.html

The 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, was once mostly focused on approving case-by-case wiretapping orders. But since major changes in legislation and greater judicial oversight of intelligence operations were instituted six years ago, it has quietly become almost a parallel Supreme Court, serving as the ultimate arbiter on surveillance issues and delivering opinions that will most likely shape intelligence practices for years to come, the officials said.

SNIP

Unlike the Supreme Court, the FISA court hears from only one side in the case — the government — and its findings are almost never made public. A Court of Review is empaneled to hear appeals, but that is known to have happened only a handful of times in the court’s history, and no case has ever been taken to the Supreme Court. In fact, it is not clear in all circumstances whether Internet and phone companies that are turning over the reams of data even have the right to appear before the FISA court.