http://www.securityweek.com/19-groups-sue-nsa-over-data-collectionWASHINGTON - Nineteen US organizations filed suit Tuesday against the National Security Agency claiming their constitutional rights were violated by the secret spy agency's data collection programs.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed the action on behalf of a variety of groups including the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, the gun rights group Calguns Foundation, Greenpeace and Human Rights Watch.
The suit filed in California federal court alleges that the mass collection of phone records under the so-called PRISM program violates Americans' constitutional rights.
"Our case seeks to apply the right of association in the digital age," said EFF attorney Cindy Cohn.
Cohn said the suit, based on a longstanding Supreme Court ruling, contends the government's collection of "metadata" or information on calls placed, without the content of the conversation, allows the government to monitor who is associating with various groups.
