On July 1, 2014, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (“PCLOB”) issued its final report on Section 702 of FISA. Significantly, the PCLOB found that Section 702 and its implementation are constitutional, though certain...

Keeping a promise made by DNI Clapper in August 2013, on Friday the U.S. Government issued its eagerly awaited transparency report for surveillance requests under national security authorities (e.g. FISA, FAA, and the NSL statutes)...

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee moved to reform the NSA’s controversial bulk data collection via the USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 3361). The Committee adopted the Manager’s amendment to the bill as well as Representative DelBene’s...

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) has ordered the Government to destroy call detail records collected under its bulk telephony metadata collection program, despite pending litigation challenging the program’s legality. After receiving that order, the...

On January 27, 2014, the Department of Justice announced that the federal government has approved new reporting methods that electronic communications providers can use to inform subscribers about national security demands.  Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, Google,...

On November 4, Marc Zwillinger was one of only two non-academic private attorneys invited to participate at the second public hearing of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.  Mr. Zwillinger discussed recommendations for changes...

On June 30, 2013, the FISA Court of Review, in a rare order, unsealed the now-declassified fact that Yahoo! was the provider who challenged the constitutionality of the Directives issued under the Protect America Act, the...

Much of the nation has been gripped by disclosures regarding the NSA’s surveillance activities and a program allegedly called PRISM.  In this webinar, Marc Zwillinger will explain the history and background of FISA and the...

Yesterday’s story alleging that Internet companies were voluntarily participating in a program to give the NSA access to their systems has morphed overnight into an acknowledgement by the Director of National Intelligence that the activities...

As I blog the latest developments in the surveillance world, I admit to being a little bit shocked at yesterday’s leaked revelations.   In short, the FISA court issued an order compelling Verizon Business Services to turn...