fisa Archives : PIA VPN Blog

Dec 3, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

The US government admits to using the Patriot Act to collect web browsing information

Letters between the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Senator Ron Wyden confirm that the United States government has used Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect web browsing information via a FISA court order. Specifically, the DNI – John Ratcliffe – wrote to Senator Wyden that Section 215 of the Patriot Act had … Continue reading “The US government admits to using the Patriot Act to collect web browsing information”

Oct 15, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
Cybersecurity, Encryption, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

French data protection authority says it can’t trust top US Internet companies with EU personal data – even if they keep it in the EU

Last month, this blog looked at the continuing repercussions of the decision by the EU’s top court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), to strike down the Privacy Shield framework that legalizes most flows of personal information from the EU to the US. The privacy activist who brought the original case against … Continue reading “French data protection authority says it can’t trust top US Internet companies with EU personal data – even if they keep it in the EU”

Sep 2, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Federal appeals court finds the NSA’s mass surveillance of American phone records was illegal

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has just ruled that the “NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records was illegal.” For years, the NSA has conducted a domestic mass surveillance program on Americans’ phone records with little to no resistance from other arms of the government but lots of resistance from … Continue reading “Federal appeals court finds the NSA’s mass surveillance of American phone records was illegal”

Jul 23, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Top EU court sinks main framework for sending personal data across the Atlantic

The Privacy Shield framework for transferring personal data across the Atlantic was brought in to deal with a problem created by the EU’s GDPR. According to the latter, the personal data of European citizens can only be transferred to countries that offer “adequate” data protection, equivalent to the GDPR. The Privacy Shield system was devised … Continue reading “Top EU court sinks main framework for sending personal data across the Atlantic”

May 28, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

House delays vote on renewing FISA surveillance powers to grant FBI warrantless access to internet history

Your internet history is safe from the FBI… for now. Government surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) – which have sat unrenewed since March – failed to be renewed this week in the House despite passing earlier this year. The FISA renewal vote came up as H.R. 6172, the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization … Continue reading “House delays vote on renewing FISA surveillance powers to grant FBI warrantless access to internet history”

Mar 29, 2019 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

NSA phone surveillance may end soon thanks to a bipartisan bill introduced to Congress

A group of bipartisan Senators and House Representatives have introduced legislation that would end the NSA’s mass surveillance of American phone records. The bill is titled: “Ending Mass Collection of Americans’ Phone Records Act” and will put an immediate end to the NSA collection of phone records. Curtailing the NSA’s overarching mass surveillance plans is … Continue reading “NSA phone surveillance may end soon thanks to a bipartisan bill introduced to Congress”

Oct 7, 2017 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

These 13 House Reps sponsored a bill to legalize mass surveillance on Americans and called it the USA Liberty Act

On October 6th, House Representative Goodlatte and 12 other Representatives proposed the USA Liberty Act (H.R. 3989) – which would renew the currently active NSA’s mass surveillance programs. We’ve known for the better part of a year that the Trump Administration intended to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which would … Continue reading “These 13 House Reps sponsored a bill to legalize mass surveillance on Americans and called it the USA Liberty Act”

Mar 3, 2017 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Trump Administration wants to renew FISA Section 702; keep Snowden revealed NSA surveillance programs PRISM and Upstream

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 2008 has been the “legal” backbone of NSA’s mass internet surveillance programs for almost the entirety of the last decade. Section 702 of FISA authorizes the ongoing NSA spy programs PRISM and Upstream, and the extent of the privacy violations were revealed by the Snowden … Continue reading “Trump Administration wants to renew FISA Section 702; keep Snowden revealed NSA surveillance programs PRISM and Upstream”