US Government Defies Court Order & Destroys Evidence of NSA Spying

[Chef Ramsay]

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked a judge today to schedule an emergency hearing, after learning that the government is apparently still destroying evidence of NSA spying despite a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the court in March. In an order issued in response this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White instructed the government not to destroy any more materials and file a brief responding to EFF's allegations by 12 p.m PT on Friday.

"In communications with the government this week, EFF was surprised to learn that the government has been continuing to destroy evidence relating to the mass interception of Internet communications it is conducting under section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act even though the court explicitly ordered it to stop in March," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Specifically, the government is destroying content gathered through tapping into the fiberoptic cables of AT&T."

She added: "Once again, the government has apparently secretly and unilaterally reinterpreted its obligations about the evidence preservation orders, and has determined that it need not comply. Today marks a year to the day that Edward Snowden leaked documents confirming the NSA's massive spying, yet the government is still engaging in outlandish claims and gamesmanship – even destroying evidence – to block an adversarial court ruling on whether its mass spying is legal or constitutional."

EFF filed its Jewel v. NSA lawsuit in 2008. In recent weeks, declarations from the government in the Jewel case made it clear that the government has destroyed five years of the content it collected between 2007 and 2012, three years worth of the telephone records it seized between 2006 and 2009, and seven years of the Internet records it seized between 2004 and 2011, when it claims to have ended the Internet records seizures. In an emergency hearing last March over that evidence destruction, Judge White issued the current TRO, ordering the government to stop any further destruction of records or content until the matter could be sorted out.

"There can be no dispute that the government was aware of the broad scope of this TRO, and in his order this afternoon, Judge White confirmed that it reached materials gathered under Section 702," Cohn said. "We're asking Judge White to enforce the order and impose on the government whatever further measures are necessary to ensure that no further destruction of evidence occurs. It will be very interesting to see what the government says in its defense in its briefing tomorrow."

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/court-again-orders-government-not-destroy-evidence-nsa-spying-case
Much thanks to Snowden and the Ace Journalist Glenn Greenwald for these revelations. Of course, this shows that courts take the back bench to the spying chiefs.

[vokain]

that's why the judicial branch is weaker than the other two, because of the inability to enforce the rulings it makes

[TECSHARE]

http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/06/judge-orders-nsa-to-stop-destroying-evidence-for-the-third-time

[bryant.coleman]

Not surprising at all. At the same time moonbats like John Kerry are asking for Russia to deport Snowden back to the United States. What is the point in coming back to the US, to face the jury, when even the jury is powerless?

[bitsmichel]

Not surprising at all. At the same time moonbats like John Kerry are asking for Russia to deport Snowden back to the United States. What is the point in coming back to the US, to face the jury, when even the jury is powerless?

I think John Kerry needs to retire, nobody takes him serious anymore:

"John Kerry caught sleeping during press conference in poland"
"Sen. McCain plays poker as Kerry argues for military strike against Syria"
"John Kerry Accuses Edward Snowden of Helping Terrorists"

[bryant.coleman]

I think John Kerry needs to retire, nobody takes him serious anymore:

"John Kerry caught sleeping during press conference in poland"
"Sen. McCain plays poker as Kerry argues for military strike against Syria"
"John Kerry Accuses Edward Snowden of Helping Terrorists"

You need to add one more phrase to that list.

"Snowden should 'man-up' and face trial: says SOS John Kerry"

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=629652.0

John Kerry, official joker of the United States. 

[Ron~Popeil]

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked a judge today to schedule an emergency hearing, after learning that the government is apparently still destroying evidence of NSA spying despite a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the court in March. In an order issued in response this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White instructed the government not to destroy any more materials and file a brief responding to EFF's allegations by 12 p.m PT on Friday.

"In communications with the government this week, EFF was surprised to learn that the government has been continuing to destroy evidence relating to the mass interception of Internet communications it is conducting under section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act even though the court explicitly ordered it to stop in March," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Specifically, the government is destroying content gathered through tapping into the fiberoptic cables of AT&T."

She added: "Once again, the government has apparently secretly and unilaterally reinterpreted its obligations about the evidence preservation orders, and has determined that it need not comply. Today marks a year to the day that Edward Snowden leaked documents confirming the NSA's massive spying, yet the government is still engaging in outlandish claims and gamesmanship – even destroying evidence – to block an adversarial court ruling on whether its mass spying is legal or constitutional."

EFF filed its Jewel v. NSA lawsuit in 2008. In recent weeks, declarations from the government in the Jewel case made it clear that the government has destroyed five years of the content it collected between 2007 and 2012, three years worth of the telephone records it seized between 2006 and 2009, and seven years of the Internet records it seized between 2004 and 2011, when it claims to have ended the Internet records seizures. In an emergency hearing last March over that evidence destruction, Judge White issued the current TRO, ordering the government to stop any further destruction of records or content until the matter could be sorted out.

"There can be no dispute that the government was aware of the broad scope of this TRO, and in his order this afternoon, Judge White confirmed that it reached materials gathered under Section 702," Cohn said. "We're asking Judge White to enforce the order and impose on the government whatever further measures are necessary to ensure that no further destruction of evidence occurs. It will be very interesting to see what the government says in its defense in its briefing tomorrow."

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/court-again-orders-government-not-destroy-evidence-nsa-spying-case
Much thanks to Snowden and the Ace Journalist Glenn Greenwald for these revelations. Of course, this shows that courts take the back bench to the spying chiefs.

When you violate a court order you have a compelling reason to do so. There is a lot more to this story.

[Chef Ramsay]

Pretty much what it all boils down to.

[Lethn]

lol that cartoon made me laugh sad that it's true >_<

[JohnnyBTCSeed]

Sweet they destroyed one of their copies to get the scent off their tracks; clever bastards

[vokain]

Sweet they destroyed one of their copies to get the scent off their tracks; clever bastards

buying time is my guess

[Ron~Popeil]

lol that cartoon made me laugh sad that it's true >_<

There is always an element of truth in good humor. This bit of humor more so than usual.  

[bryant.coleman]

It's a matter of national security.

Yeah... this is the excuse which is being made to spy on everyone's social media accounts. I don't understand what they are going to achieve by spying on normal citizens. A complete waste of taxpayer's money.

[zolace]

It's a matter of national security.

Yeah... this is the excuse which is being made to spy on everyone's social media accounts. I don't understand what they are going to achieve by spying on normal citizens. A complete waste of taxpayer's money.

They always say knowledge is power and government wants to have there hands in all the cookie jars.

[Chef Ramsay]

It's a matter of national security.

Yeah... this is the excuse which is being made to spy on everyone's social media accounts. I don't understand what they are going to achieve by spying on normal citizens. A complete waste of taxpayer's money.

If the PR is wrong about them allegedly wanting to stop terrorism and in fact wanting to set up Orwell's 1984 then they're doing a fine job at it. But, the pendulum may very well swing back in the other direction and I know that Rand is going to make this whole ordeal a linchpin of his Prez run.

[irobotnik8]

What do they even hope to gain by spying on American citizens? I'm pretty sure these clowns could have prevented the Boston marathon bombings, numerous school shootings, and a whole lot of other crimes if they were using these data for "national security" purposes. Yet they stood back and watched without doing anything.

[vokain]

What do they even hope to gain by spying on American citizens? I'm pretty sure these clowns could have prevented the Boston marathon bombings, numerous school shootings, and a whole lot of other crimes if they were using these data for "national security" purposes. Yet they stood back and watched without doing anything.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2014-06-05/5000-years-history-shows-mass-spying-always-aimed-crushing-dissent

So what do they gain from crushing dissent? Apparently... everything:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHRhpbx17Gg

[Swordsoffreedom]

Tssk, That really is when you know the government or the NSA is corrupted
Destroying legal evidence in the name of national security is the same as saying we don't want civilians or the general public to have access to information that makes us look bad and reveals the truth of our activities on the civ's populace so we will destroy it no matter what you or the public think because we the NSA are above the law and the people for their own good.

Then we'll pass a bill in secret to make it legal and then kill I mean apprehend all these darn whistleblowers who reveal our illegal legal activities. 

[Ron~Popeil]

It's a matter of national security.

Yeah... this is the excuse which is being made to spy on everyone's social media accounts. I don't understand what they are going to achieve by spying on normal citizens. A complete waste of taxpayer's money.

If the PR is wrong about them allegedly wanting to stop terrorism and in fact wanting to set up Orwell's 1984 then they're doing a fine job at it. But, the pendulum may very well swing back in the other direction and I know that Rand is going to make this whole ordeal a linchpin of his Prez run.

Yes. This next election will be crucial. Does anyone really trust Hillary to reign in the surveillance state? Our grand experiment is in doubt if we get much further down this path.

[bitsmichel]

It's a matter of national security.

Yeah... this is the excuse which is being made to spy on everyone's social media accounts. I don't understand what they are going to achieve by spying on normal citizens. A complete waste of taxpayer's money.

If the PR is wrong about them allegedly wanting to stop terrorism and in fact wanting to set up Orwell's 1984 then they're doing a fine job at it. But, the pendulum may very well swing back in the other direction and I know that Rand is going to make this whole ordeal a linchpin of his Prez run.

Yes. This next election will be crucial. Does anyone really trust Hillary to reign in the surveillance state? Our grand experiment is in doubt if we get much further down this path.

I do not think the next elections will change the mass surveillance program, they will stop at nothing. If they do not have your data, you are a 'terrorist'.
Of course, this program can be used to get of political opponents, crush dissidents etc - in the same way that mass surveillance was used in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The best chances to avoid it is to use cryptographic tools and "going dark".
 

[Ron~Popeil]

It's a matter of national security.

Yeah... this is the excuse which is being made to spy on everyone's social media accounts. I don't understand what they are going to achieve by spying on normal citizens. A complete waste of taxpayer's money.

If the PR is wrong about them allegedly wanting to stop terrorism and in fact wanting to set up Orwell's 1984 then they're doing a fine job at it. But, the pendulum may very well swing back in the other direction and I know that Rand is going to make this whole ordeal a linchpin of his Prez run.

Yes. This next election will be crucial. Does anyone really trust Hillary to reign in the surveillance state? Our grand experiment is in doubt if we get much further down this path.

I do not think the next elections will change the mass surveillance program, they will stop at nothing. If they do not have your data, you are a 'terrorist'.
Of course, this program can be used to get of political opponents, crush dissidents etc - in the same way that mass surveillance was used in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The best chances to avoid it is to use cryptographic tools and "going dark".
 

Rand Paul is very anti surveillance state. He is one of the few candidates for president in my lifetime that actually would make things better. Sadly the establishment republican party will go after him with a vengeance as the primary season kicks off.