Litigation over global surveillance

Litigation over global surveillance has occurred in multiple jurisdictions since the global surveillance disclosures of 2013.

National Security Agency surveillance
Map of global NSA data collection
Programs Pre-1978 ECHELON MINARET SHAMROCK PROMIS Since 1978 Upstream collection BLARNEY FAIRVIEW Main Core ThinThread Genoa Since 2001 OAKSTAR STORMBREW Trailblazer Turbulence Genoa II Total Information Awareness President's Surveillance Program Terrorist Surveillance Program Since 2007 PRISM Dropmire Stateroom Bullrun MYSTIC MonsterMind (alleged) Databases, tools etc. PINWALE MARINA MAINWAY TRAFFICTHIEF DISHFIRE XKeyscore ICREACH BOUNDLESSINFORMANT GCHQ collaboration MUSCULAR Tempora
Legislation Safe Streets Act Privacy Act of 1974 FISA ECPA Patriot Act Homeland Security Act Protect America Act of 2007 FISA Amendments Act of 2008
Institutions FISC Senate Intelligence Committee National Security Council
Lawsuits ACLU v. NSA Hepting v. AT&T Jewel v. NSA Clapper v. Amnesty Klayman v. Obama ACLU v. Clapper Wikimedia v. NSA
Whistleblowers William Binney Thomas Drake Mark Klein Edward Snowden Thomas Tamm Russ Tice
Publication 2005 warrantless surveillance scandal 2013 mass surveillance scandal
Related Cablegate Surveillance of reporters Mail tracking UN diplomatic spying Insider Threat Program Mass surveillance in the United States Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom
Concepts SIGINT Metadata
Collaboration United States CSS CYBERCOM DOJ FBI CIA DHS IAO Five Eyes CSEC GCHQ ASD GCSB Other DGSE BND

Background

Ongoing news reports in the international media have revealed operational details about the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and its international partners' global surveillance^[1] of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens. The reports emanate from a cache of top secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden. In June 2013, the first of Snowden's documents were published simultaneously by The Washington Post and The Guardian, attracting considerable public attention.^[2]

North America

Hepting v. AT&T

Hepting v. AT&T is a US class action lawsuit filed in January 2006 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) against the telecommunications company AT&T, in which the EFF alleges that AT&T permitted and assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) in unlawfully monitoring the communications of the United States, including AT&T customers, businesses and third parties whose communications were routed through AT&T's network, as well as voice over IP telephone calls routed via the Internet.

The case is separate from, but related to, the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, in which the federal government agency bypassed the courts to monitor U.S. phone calls without warrants. Hepting v. AT&T does not include the federal government as a party.

Jewel v. NSA

Jewel v. National Security Agency is a United States class action lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) against the National Security Agency (NSA) and several high-ranking officials of the administration for 43rd U.S. president George W. Bush,^[3] charging an "illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet communications surveillance".^[4]

Clapper v. Amnesty International

'Clapper v. Amnesty International, 568 U.S. ___ (2013), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that Amnesty International USA and others lacked standing to challenge 50 U. S. C. §1881a of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as amended by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008.^[5][6][7]

Klayman v. Obama

The plaintiffs, subscribers of Verizon Wireless, brought suit against the NSA,the DOJ, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, General Keith Alexander, and Verizon Communication.^[8] The plaintiffs allege that the government is conducting a "secret and illegal government scheme to intercept vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications".^[8]

On December 16, 2013, US Federal Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that bulk collection of American telephone metadata likely violates the Constitution of the United States. The judge wrote, "I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary' invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval ... Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment."^[9]

ACLU v. Clapper

The American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates brought suit challenging the legality of the NSA's bulk data collection program. The district court granted a dismissal, and the plaintiffs announced their intention to appeal the decision to the Second Circuit court of Appeals.^[8][10]

ACLU v Clapper was heard before the Second Circuit on May 7, 2015. The Second Circuit did not address the constitutionality of the data collection program, but did find that the implementation of the mass surveillance program being authorized by section 215 of the Patriot Act was illegal. The court also found ACLU had alleged a concrete, fairly traceable, and redressable injury sufficient to confer standing to assert their First Amendment rights, based on an infringement of freedom of speech and freedom of association.^[11]

Planned suit by Sen. Rand Paul

US Senator Rand Paul has announced plans to file a "class-action lawsuit" over the NSA's mass surveillance.^[12][13]

In February 2015, Paul filed suit against the federal government NSA spying program in a suit titled Paul v. Obama. The suit is expected to be a drawn out process, and Paul stressed his intent is not to harm the intelligence capacity or American government in any way, but simply to restore the country to the Constitutional protections that have ensured her stability.^[14]

Elsewhere

Germany

The International League for Human Rights (ILMR) and the Chaos Computer Club has filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice of Germany.^[15] The complaint accuses "US, British and German secret agents, their supervisors, the German Minister of the Interior as well as the German Chancelor of illegal and prohibited covert intelligence activities, of aiding and abetting of those activities, of violation of the right to privacy and obstruction of justice in office by bearing and cooperating with the electronic surveillance of German citizens by NSA and GCHQ."^[16][17]

References