Declassified FISA Court Opinion Shows NSA Lied Repeatedly To The Court As Well
from the that's-officially-everybody dept
The EFF finally gets to step away from one of its many legal battles with the government with its hands held aloft in victory and clutching a long-hidden FISA court opinion.
For over a year, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court’s opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated “the spirit of” federal law.
Beyond the many instances of NSA malfeasance, the most damning aspect of the opinion is its lack of effect on future behavior. What does make it past the redaction details repeated wrongdoing that even the FISA Court, long perceived to be the NSA’s rubber stamp, found egregious.
A footnote on page 16 points out that the agency had “substantially misrepresented” the extent of its “major collection program” (including the harvesting of “internet transactions”) for the third time in less than three years. The same set of footnotes attacks the so-called “big business records” collection, accusing the agency of using a “flawed depiction” of how it used the data to basically fleece the FISA court since the program’s inception in 2006.
Then there’s this pair of concluding sentences, which severely undercut anyone’s arguments that the FISA Court is a reliable form of oversight.
Contrary to the government’s repeated assurances, NSA has been repeatedly running queries of the metadata using querying terms that did not meet the standard for querying. The Court concluded that this requirement had been “so frequently and systemically violated that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall… regime has never functioned effectively.”
Other pages detail more concerns, including misrepresentation of the methods used in 702 collections, which the opinion claims “fundamentally alters the Court’s understanding of the scope of the collection.”
As the Washington Post points out, this opinion, which details many instances in which the NSA flat out lied to the court, lends some credence to statements made by presiding judge Reggie Walton, who claimed the court was limited to making decisions based on information the NSA provided. This opinion appears to detail the NSA setting up its own complicit court system, intentionally misleading it in order to continue its surveillance programs unabated.
The only problem with accepting Walton’s narrative completely is the fact that, despite this opinion, the court granted every request that year (2011) and then proceeded to do the same the following year. The court was lied to but still kept giving the agency the thumbs-up on each new court order.
The leaks keep coming and keep pointing to the same conclusion: the NSA has acted as a law unto itself. And all the while it continues to point at its “overseers,” which include Congress (which has been lied to directly by the agency when not having information withheld from it by the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee) and the FISA Court (which has been lied to directly and is hampered by its reliance on the NSA’s data and narratives — which pretty much just means more lying).
And despite all this evidence that the NSA’s “oversight” is nearly completely compromised, the defenders, including those within the agency, continue to insist the system is working the way it should. In their eyes, maybe it is.
Filed Under: fisa, fisc, nsa, privacy, surveillance
Comments on “Declassified FISA Court Opinion Shows NSA Lied Repeatedly To The Court As Well”
Just shows once again that the NSA doesn’t give a shit about the constitution. Why should they when there are no repercussions?
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It’s not just the NSA but in my opinion the majority of the federal government. The NSA wouldn’t be allowed to and could not do this if many others in government weren’t ok with it.
So they told the truth about having oversight. They just neglected to mention that the oversight was absolutely ineffective.
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But the “oversight” is effective. It’s doing exactly what they want it to — placate people.
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Lucky there is no oversight committee watching TD for lies or misrepresentations.
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Sure there is, its called the General Public, and it just so happens to be the same oversight committee that is actually watching the NSA for lies and misrepresentations at the moment.
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So Techdirt is no better than the NSA for lying and misrepresentation ? or is it ok to catch NSA out for lies but not TD ?
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Lies and Misrepresentation by both TD and the NSA should be called out. The only “Lie” you have claimed so far is the usage of the word Leak in
“The leaks keep coming and keep pointing to the same conclusion…” Which, given that actually Leaks are still coming (You know those ones originating from Snowden), I am failing to see the “Lie”.
Rather than us trading insults and snide comments, may I request that you elaborate on either why you believe the use of the term ‘Leaks’ is a lie, or perhaps you can identify another Lie in the article? As it stands, there so far seems to be only you raising an issue at the moment against plenty who see no issue, and while I don’t generally like the idea of ‘Majority Rules’, the fact that only you are raising an issue on the point strikes me as more of a grudge than a legitimate complaint.
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it’s a clear misrepresentation of the facts, the article it titled “declassified documents”, the body of the article talks about these released declassified documents, they the author of the article by referring them to Leaks (that keep coming) is a misrepresentation of the facts.
The leaks keep coming and keep pointing to the same conclusion:
So now he is trying to represent this declassified document as a “leak that keeps on coming and point to the same conclusion”
First, we all know now it’s NOT a leak, and it draws no conclusions, opinion is not conclusion.
The term leak is a lie, when what it refers to is not a leak !
A lie, by definition is saying something that is not true !
It is not true this is a leak, so what does that make the statement it is ?
Lie’s are not like votes it does not matter how many of them you have in a single article, one is enough !
If you want to undermine your own credibility and believability then just keep saying things that are not true.
Because if you can misrepresent something like this to get your point across what else are you willing to misrepresent ?
It’s not my fault I don’t trust what you say, if you say things that are untrue. If you want me to believe everything you say, make sure it’s believable.
It’s not something you (TD) needs to do, but by doing it you have lowered yourself to their level. And made yourselves look somewhat slap happy, and ‘free and lose’ with the truth.
The facts as they stand should speak for themselves, we don’t need TD to try to make it worse, it has the opposite effect to what you are seeking to achieve !
TD does itself a disservice by playing free and lose with the truth when it is not necessary to put yourself in that position.
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The leaks being referred to are not the declassified documents that the rest of the article is about. Syntax is a powerful thing, and if you fail to understand it you start looking like an idiot.
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yes there is, It is the TD oversight committee seeing your lies, clicking on report and having your posts full of lies and misrepresentations hidden.
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yes, no one likes having their lies exposed !!!! even TD, I point them out, you hide them !!! what does that say about you ?
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you seem to have it backwards, which seems to be typical for you.
You would not know the truth if it walked up and smacked you in the face with a fish.
You spout off so many lies that even you are starting to believe yourself.
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And it’s failing in even that now.
A case of the 3 monkeys
Hear No.
See No.
Say No.
…
Fer frak's sake
The only problem with accepting Walton’s narrative completely is the fact that, despite this opinion, the court granted every request that year (2011) and then proceeded to do the same the following year.
You had one bit of leverage.
No wonder these judges got appointed to the FISA court.
One has to remember that not long ago, the FISA court judges were all upset that anyone thought they weren’t doing their job of oversight.
Then it was revealed that they have no method of oversight. Just as the public thought all along, genuine rubber.
Now it is revealed that not only did they have a problem with method but continued to ignore it after it was ruled for two years without so much as a whisper as near as anyone can tell. Even the courts seem to speak a different English than the rest of us.
So far nothing coming out of the White House nor the NSA about how much oversight there is and how the NSA can’t and isn’t doing. The silence is deafening.
Contempt of Court
Jesus can we start see them getting thrown in the slammer for contempt of court for once?
Re: Contempt of Court
You seem to misunderstand how ‘contempt of court’ is used in this country.
“Here is approval for your next 90 days of spying…but we are very mad you keep lying to us about it, not that we are planning on stopping you in anyway. Carry on, see you in 90 days for another approval.”
Fucking brilliant.
Today we witness the death of political fiction authors.
that is all,
Nigel
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and the birth of the Techdirt fiction authors…
The leaks keep coming and keep pointing to the same conclusion:
So by your standards, you are LYING TO US !!!!..
They are not leaks they are declassified documents.
Why are you lying and misrepresenting the truth ???
So it’s not just FISC or NSA it’s YOU TOO, misrepresenting the truth !!!!
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so you are saying that there have been no more leaks showing the unconstitutional spying being done by the NSA?
No more leaks showing that the Oversight Committee has withheld vital information from members of Congress?
Are you really that stupid ?
you know if you want to write about lying and misrepresentation, you might want to take some effort to be not guilty of the very same thing yourself.
You posting lies does not help people find out what the real truth is, and makes you look like you are just as willing to make things up to support your argument !!!
Basically, you’ve been busted doing exactly what you claim others are doing, so what is true and what is a lie from you ?? How can we possibly tell, or trust you ??
Would a ‘real’ journalist lie like this ?? (probably)
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Firstly, if your only argument is the incorrect term was used for the documents (Leaks rather than Declassified documents that had to be fought for a year to be released), it would be more prudent to chalk that up to improper use of English rather than a lie. Secondly, we don’t happen to trust or distrust people on one event, more so we look at their past actions. Looking at the past actions of the NSA and FISA court, there are some very strong reasons to not trust them. If you wish to imply that Techdirt has done anything near the same level of lying and misrepresentation, could you perhaps provide some examples that are more substantial than the usage of an incorrect type of documentation?
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so when masnick does it it’s an honest ‘mistake’, but when anyone else does it, it’s a lie ?
“more so we look at their past actions.”
So do we !!
“imply that Techdirt has done anything near the same level of lying and misrepresentation”
Lying and misrepresentation is not a ‘level’ thing, you either do it, or you don’t..
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Firstly, this Article was written by Tim, so your a liar for attempting to Attack Mansick via an article that he did not write.
Secondly, the article only mentions Leak when talking about ALL THE OTHER documents that are being released, while you can argue it MAY imply this document was a Leak as well, it can just as easily be argued that it does not
Thirdly, as I mentioned above, the ‘lie’ itself seems to be simply a poor choice of terminology. Was it done maliciously? Possibly, but even if we wish to assume that’s true it does not kill the underlying point of the article, which is the NSA lied repeatedly to the FISA court.
Fourthly, even if you want to say Lying is black and white, it’s something you do or you do not do, the effects of the lie are most certainly a level thing. For example, we have you lying about Mansick by saying the mistake was his when it was Tim’s. While it still a lie, overall it is not harmful. Then we have “lie’s” (And I put that in quotes because I am still not convinced), in the article with the choice of terminology, perhaps it was embellished slightly but overall the effect is minor.
Then you have a lie told to the ENTIRE COUNTRY, a lie which is flat out near the exact opposite of the truth, and the lie itself is used to ensure people that ‘Nothing bad’ is happening, a lie that when it is revealed, shines the light on the massive growth of injustice that the NSA is now engaged in.
If you want to mistrust TD for its poor choice (or perhaps deliberate embellishment) of words, than you are welcome to, but I think you will be hard pressed to find anyone who believes that comes anywhere near as damaging as the lies the NSA have spread
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“Firstly, this Article was written by Tim”
Masnick is “editor-in-chief” of TD he has the responsibility of all articles posted on TD.
“If you want to mistrust TD for its poor choice (or perhaps deliberate embellishment) of words”
poor choices and embellishments are great reasons to mistrust someone.
so then go you on, “Sure TD lies, but not as badly as NSA”, not a good argument to forward !
I would hope TD could maintain some standards better than a comparison to NSA !
TD is on the internet, it is therefore lying to the entire planet ! ?
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“I would hope TD could maintain some standards better than a comparison to NSA !”
Well at least we can agree the NSA abuse is far worse, that’s a starting point at least. I wont argue about the “Editor-in-Chief” part, as I do not know how Articles are posted on TD and if Masnick reviews them, so any comment I made would be in ignorance. Even so I challenge your point:
“so when masnick does it it’s an honest ‘mistake’, but when anyone else does it, it’s a lie ?”
You invoke the lie as being caused by Masnicks own actions through your choice of words, whether you intended for them to carry that meaning. Saying someone has some responsibility or is directly responsible have different meanings.
Going back to the root of this issue though, I still believe your reading the sentence incorrectly. The article simply states that leaks are coming out (True), and that the leaks are revealing the NSA Abuse (Also True). It does not state that the declassification is part of these leaks, and while you can argue that it is implied, it is just as easily to argue it is not implied (The joys of the English language). Considering the fact that the ‘supposed’ Embellishment would not change the effect of the Article whether it was there or not, I’d be willing to say that it is not implied as it is pointless to imply it, and rather its the way you’re reading the statement.
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The big Lesson taught in real schools is READ THE QUESTION.
Experience of the real world will teach the aware that this principle should be expanded to READ THE ARTICLE, not read every other word and let your personal opinions fill in the blanks.
You must have gone to a poorly funded school. Where did the funding go, pay for bleeding edge NSA computers?
We get enough Verbal Wishy-Washy out of the political classes.
In a real democracy with rule of law, a Government Official caught Lying to a Court, Is found guilty of pergory and said government Official gets a six month stay at the worst prison in the system, a prison where you Never bend down to pick up the soap in the shower.
Techdirt has always been a bit more sensationalist but they have been factual.
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So Obama should be sent to Jail for the illegal spying seeing as how he is the President and also the Commander and Chief.
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That!
According to AC, since Masnick is the boss he should be responsible. But when it comes to the Administration, no one in a position of authority is to blame, it’s always the underlings. What ever happened to “the Buck Stops Here!” ???
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Well, if you’re so knowledgeable, then enlighten us with the truth. Since all you’ve done so far is fling accusations without even the thinnest scrape of evidence to support them, I’m inclined not to believe you. That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.
Either put out or piss off.
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Article title:
Declassified FISA Court Opinion Shows NSA Lied Repeatedly To The Court As Well
FACT:
The leaks keep coming and keep pointing to the same conclusion:
Authors statement: Lie
Since all you’ve done so far is fling accusations without even the thinnest scrape of evidence to support them,
See above:
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That doesn’t say the court document itself was a leak. A misunderstanding on your part does not constitute a lie.
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So the Leaks have stopped?
I would suggest that you go back to elementary school to learn reading comprehension.
claimed the court was limited to making decisions based on information the NSA provided.
That’s actually how courts work, courts are not investigators or defenders or prosecutors courts make decisions based on the information provided to them by the parties !
It’s a bit of a worry that you appear to not understand the basic function of a court !!
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Hey Less_than_Average_Joe,
Still breaking the law I see. I am going to laugh so hard when you are taken to court for using a proxy and changing your IP address to get around a ban to a site.
You are a scumbag Lawyer in training that can only pass exams by cheating
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That’s not AJ, that’s darryl, the Aussie who’s just pissed the Oz lost the Ashes.
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That’s actually not true. Some courts can subpoena records as well. Also, what other court by it’s very design makes decisions based solely on the testimony of a single organization?
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I’d agree with you, if perhaps this Court wasn’t held up as the NSA as being the major form of oversight to ensure that they weren’t abusing their powers to harvest data of every America they could. Considering that this court was meant to be a reasonable form of oversight, perhaps limiting its decisions of Oversight to be based on the information provided by those who they were overseeing was an incredibly flawed idea? Considering the fact they fought for these documents to not be revealed (You got nothing to fear if you got nothing to hide and all that…) its clear they knew this Oversight was a farce from the beginning and didn’t want the rest of us to know
Felony OPINION
“I can’t wait for the day when the Washington Post reports that someone has been charged with felony possession of a controlled opinion…”
An opinion is not a ruling, just so you know..
This system is facilitated by the US?
Taxation without representation?
“Oversight”, “overlook”… close enough for government work.
Contempt question
OK, hypothetical problem, lets say Mike introduces himself to me as ‘Joe smith’ (not Mike Masnick), I believe his name is Joe Smith, we both go to court for some reason, I am put on the stand and say the oath !.
I am asked by the court “what is that person’s name” I say “he is Joe Smith”.
Am I in contempt of court ? Did I lie to the court ?
I told the truth as I know it, although that ‘truth’ was a lie !!! so am I an contempt of court, is Masnick in contempt of court because he lied to me ??
He cant be because he’s not under oath, but I am.
When you are in court under oath you tell the truth AS YOU KNOW IT TO BE, that does not mean what you say is actually true.
So if I believe something to be true, when it is in fact a lie (that I don’t know about, because I believe it to be true) you have not broken any oath’s and you have told the truth as you know it.
So am I in contempt of court or not ? Did I lie ? or was I lied to and simply stated something incorrectly.
Re: Contempt question
We are not answering your exam questions for you Less_than_average_joe.
I would tell you to read your textbook if there was any chance that you would comprehend what it said
Re: Contempt question
Joe, what does any of that bullshit have to do with the price of sheep?
What the fuck is wrong with the trolls here?
Swarming time?
Re: What the fuck is wrong with the trolls here?
Political hacks/paid shills!
Well let me see now. The NSA are cops and cops lie for a living.
This should result in jail time for those responsible. You should not be able to intentionally lie to a court to violate the rights of the entire country, with no consequences.
There is simply no excuse here. And the second the FISA court got to the point where they could no longer be sure they were being told the truth, they should have shut EVERYTHING down. They cannot in good conscience approve more surveillance when they know they are being lied to about it.
So, we have a shadow government that behaves as it wishes behind the scenes with total disregard for the rule of law, unless you consider a wink and a nod ‘regard’.
I wanna know what they’re “really” doing with all that data… 20 million queries a month?! I suspect they’re not just monitoring, but are being more “proactive” in their online activities.
For example, what’s their relationship to the military and its programs that facilitate agents having multiple accounts (read multiple identities) on social media sites and blogs?
Agents provocateurs for Tea Partiers and Occupy? hand puppets for federal policy and declining privacy trends? enlisting assets to promote X in favor in Y? Ferreting out Anonymous? acting as Anonymous?
Spy VS Spy
“And despite all this evidence that the NSA’s “oversight” is nearly completely compromised, the defenders, including those within the agency, continue to insist the system is working the way it should.
In their eyes, maybe it is.”
=============
Precisely.
Now all that is left is to decide exactly why all of this is taking place. As is readily apparent to anyone with an active brain-cell or two, none of this has anything whatsoever to do with terrorists, or stopping enemies of the US from doing bad things to the US.
There is actually only one reason why people go to these lengths in secret even after they’ve been caught, and that, in a word, is – “Money”.
When you’re stealing the world’s business secrets, and their corporate plans and using intercepted emails, phone calls and letters to blackmail all of your club-member corporation’s competition world-wide, every hour you can stay on the path means many more millions of dollars stashed away in your private offshore accounts.
Like the banks, the O.C. controlled member corporations running this show assume they will suffer no penalties because they have the full approval of the White House and operate under the special laws provided for just this purpose by the last few corporate-chosen presidents.
What you might want to ask yourselves, is “just what has Organised Crime been doing for the last 3/4 of a century with all of that untaxable drug money its been pulling in?”
To put it as simply as possible, they have been buying themselves a country.
And “You the People” are now an owned resource that comes with the deal.
You might note that you are now being treated exactly like an owned commodity by law enforcement and government, if you were not afraid to look behind the shadows.
Of course, it is so much easier to believe the pretty lie than to look the ugly truth in the face, so I expect that this will be ignored as always, while the pretty lies offered by organized criminals sitting in office will be believed as usual.
Listen to your President instead. After all, he was “hired” specifically because he can spin a pretty lie better than almost anyone, (even if it is proven to be complete BS the very next day, thanks entirely to Mister Snowden and the Guardian.)
Since very few citizens actually do follow-ups on the Presidential BS Speeches to verify the veracity of their contents, only the pretty lie is heard, and this suits both the “rulers” of the USA and its resource population perfectly well.
OK now, heads back in the sand.
SPY VS SPY addendum
In case anyone is interested, an excellent exercise that works very well in deciphering US current events, is to replace the words “Federal Government” with the words “Organized Crime”, “Government Officials” with “O.C. PR Hacks”, and “Police, CIA, FBI, NSA, IRS Agents” with “Mob Enforcers”.
Suddenly all of the wierd activities, like suicide by cop, cops taking people’s cell phones and arresting 5 year old kids for swearing, and massive communications surveillance and global facial recognition check points, will start to make a hell of a lot more sense.
Of course, it helps to know that Fascism is a business model and not a political affiliation. In fact, the MAFIA is a business model also. 🙂
As for Terrorists, if you want to absolutely end all terrorism against the USA, all you have to do is stop bombing small countries into the dark ages, and rebuild all of those that have already been destroyed by US troops working for O.C. controlled and owned US corporations.
Heads back in the sand again now.
Apparently it bears repeating, so, from an earlier post…
=======================================================
There is actually only one reason why people go to these lengths in secret even after they’ve been caught, and that, in a word, is – “Money”.
When you’re stealing the world’s business secrets, and their corporate plans and using intercepted emails, phone calls and letters to blackmail all of your club-member corporation’s competition world-wide, every hour you can stay on the path means many more millions of dollars stashed away in your private offshore accounts.
Like the banks, the O.C. controlled member corporations running this show assume they will suffer no penalties because they have the full approval of the White House and operate under the special laws provided for just this purpose by the last few corporate-chosen presidents.
What you might want to ask yourselves, is “just what has Organised Crime been doing for the last 3/4 of a century with all of that untaxable drug money its been pulling in?”
======================================================
Wake up. Smell the coffee.
Your country has been bought by organized crime and your government apparatus is being used to shake-down the world.
Like the banking scandal that nearly bankrupted the planet, this is just the mob in action, in office, doing what the mob does best – extortion, blackmail, theft and bribery.
Yes Sally. It can happen here.