NSA data mining program probably unconstitutional, judge says

Ever since the USA PATRIOT Act gave the federal government broad powers to snoop on its own citizens, attempts to curtail domestic spying have gotten nowhere.

We always kinda suspected the government would do some spying on the average citizen in the name of protecting the peace after 9/11, but thanks to Edward Snowden, the extent to which the NSA has gone to cast its peepers into everything we do is at Orwellian levels.

And while they chipped away at our privacy, they apparently broke a few off for the justice system, too. Any type of legal actions brought about to curtail their powers has been litigated out of existence, put on hold without a trial date, or propped up by an outdated court precedent — namely Smith vs Maryland (1979) — that has nothing to do with the internet age.

Today, however, Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in a civil lawsuit brought by Larry Klayman that the NSA program of spying indiscriminately by using telephone metadata "is likely unconstitutional." He placed a temporary injunction on the practice until a final ruling can be determined.

This is important because it marks the first time a sitting judge has gone against the precedent set forth in Smith vs Maryland which says it's OK for entities to use telephone billing equipment in a phone company's central offices to record the numbers and call lengths that a person calls without their knowledge, thereby circumventing the Fourth Amendment and the need to obtain a search warrant beforehand. In this age of smartphones and constant connections to the internet and such, this meant the NSA could potentially hide behind Smith vs Maryland and use your internet service provider's equipment in their offices to monitor all your data without your knowledge.

The Silicon Valley tech giants aren't happy about this one bit — they know a happy customer is one who expects a reasonable about of privacy with their emails, photo and social media accounts. Google, Microsoft, AOL, Apple, Yahoo, etc have formed a 40-member coalition to request more transparency, and President Obama is heading to California to meet with the heads of the social media companies to mend fences. Will he be successful, and can he reassure them (and us) that the mighty Eye of Zardon isn't all up in our emails and IMs?

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