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A comment on U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals court. Parent comment

Re:U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals c... by ganeumann on Thursday May 07, 2015 @12:26PM (#9506257)
Love the analysis of standing. The government said the ACLU did not have standing to sue because they could not demonstrate that their phone records, though collected, had been examined. The catch-22--that they never really would be able to because that's classified--was avoided by quoting the 4th Amendment:

"The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures" (italics in the original.)

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Re:U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals c... by CPLX on Thursday May 07, 2015 @12:30PM (#9506289)
I noticed that as well. The plaintiffs hadn't stressed that issue, it seems to have been brought up newly by the appellate judges themselves. It's an interesting and important distinction, they essentially said that by transferring the information to a government computer the government has conducted a "seizure".

That is excellent news for those of us that are opposed to these kinds of government databases. Though the supremes will have to agree before that becomes doctrine.

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