The documents should tell what kinds of surveillance rights the US granted itself

Jun 16, 2014 11:13 GMT  ·  By
The mass surveillance apparatus in the US to get a bit more transparent, thanks to court order
   The mass surveillance apparatus in the US to get a bit more transparent, thanks to court order

The Electronic Frontier Foundation just scored a big win in court as a federal judge ordered the American Department of Justice to reveal info about its habit of collecting phone records.

The Judge decided that the DOJ should bring some documents for the court to review and decide whether or not they were wrongly withheld from the public. The files include one opinion and four orders issued by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The EFF had sued the US government under the Freedom of Information Act, trying to get the DOJ to release information about its surveillance practices targeting US citizens. The EFF cites a document that was leaked last year and that reveals that the government has its own interpretation of the Patriot Act, which allows it to twist several sentences to match its needs.

More specifically, under the Patriot Act, which was passed in reaction to the terrorist attacks from September 2001, the government seeks permission to engage in surveillance actions from a completely secretive court – the FISC.

The EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union has been trying to find out what types of surveillance the government has been allowed to conduct since 2011. In the years that have passed, many documents have been declassified, revealing a disturbing picture of the American surveillance apparatus.

The revelations based on Edward Snowden’s leaked NSA files only reinforced the notion that the world must know what the US government is hiding and how it spies on everyone, including its own citizens.

The Judge has found that the DOJ has withheld entire documents when it was considered that parts of them should have been disclosed.

“The scope and legality of the government’s current surveillance practices of broad swaths of its citizenry is a topic of intense public interest and concern. ‘The Freedom of Information Act was aimed at ending secret law and insuring that this country have “an informed, intelligent electorate.” ’ … In light of this public interest, in camera review to assure that the agency is complying with its obligations to disclose non-exempt material is certainly merited,” wrote the Judge.

The DOJ has so far refused to explain why there were so many notes and descriptions about intelligence activities, method and information sources that so much of these documents had to be redacted or withheld completely.

Perhaps now the DOJ will finally reveal the documents it has kept secret and we’ll all find out just how bad the situation is.