US government will declassify Yahoo documents and court decision by September

DNP US government will declassify Yahoo FISA documents by September

Earlier this month, the US government was put in the hot seat with regards to the Justice Department’s 2008 battle with Yahoo over its request for user data. Yahoo fought the PRISM demand and ultimately lost; five years later, we’re finally going to be able to see the court decision that’s been kept under lock and key since then. The clock is ticking for the federal government, as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has set a September deadline for unveiling those classified documents. While this might be a victory for transparency, it’s important to remember that declassification doesn’t necessarily mean full disclosure. The government will still have the option to redact certain portions of text that it feels must remain classified. Considering its reticence to share the information in the first place, we can probably expect to see a liberal distribution of those pesky black rectangles.

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Via: GigaOM

Utah ISP breaks silence over government server installed on its network

Utah ISP talks about the server the government forcibly installed onto its network

When the government comes knocking on your door, you kind of have to cooperate with them or face the consequences. That’s the situation Pete Ashdown, CEO of Utah ISP XMission, was faced with in 2010 after receiving a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA). The warrant, coming in at just three or four pages, was perfectly clear: install a rack-mount server on your network to track every last bit going in and out from one of your customers, and don’t say anything to anyone about this. Ashdown’s lawyer said the request was indeed legit, and the box stayed there for a little over half a year. So why talk about it now? Because Pete, like the rest of us, wants a bit of transparency, even if there’s a risk the G-Men will come “come back and haunt” him.

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Source: BuzzFeed

Microsoft asks US Attorney General to intervene on security disclosures, denies assisting with NSA interceptions

Microsoft request on FISA disclosures

Microsoft sits between a rock and a hard place when it comes to privacy — it can’t reveal more about FISA requests, but it’s also accused of assisting with NSA eavesdropping. The company is trying to settle both matters today, starting with a call on the US Attorney General for help. Microsoft hasn’t had a response to its June 19th request to publish aggregate security request data, and it wants the Attorney General to directly intervene by legalizing these disclosures. The government official hasn’t publicly acknowledged the request so far, although we weren’t expecting an immediate answer.

At the same time, Microsoft is expanding its denials of The Guardian‘s recent reporting that it facilitates large-scale NSA snooping. Along with insisting once more that it only offers specific information in response to legal requests, the firm claims that its supposedly eavesdrop-friendly actions were innocuous. Microsoft was only moving Skype nodes in-house rather than simplifying the NSA’s access to audio and video chats, for example. It’s doubtful that the public position will completely reassure doubters given the veils of secrecy surrounding the NSA and its collaborators, but the crew in Redmond at least has a full statement on record.

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Source: Microsoft on the Issues

US government to declassify Yahoo legal docs on FISA, secret court opinion

US government to declassify Yahoo legal docs on FISA, secret court opinion

Yahoo had claimed that it fought against PRISM since 2008, and now it’s about to land previously-secret court documents to prove it. A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has ruled that the US Department of Justice must declassify the firm’s legal briefs and the court’s decision on the search giant’s attempts to resist the government’s request for user data. Uncle Sam has until July 29th to provide an estimate of how long the declassification will take, and the docs can still have classified portions redacted. As The Daily Dot notes, this is only the second known civilian victory in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courtroom, and it follows a win by the EFF just a few days ago. Mayer and Co. still won’t be able to outline exactly how many FISA data requests they’ve gotten, but we’ll take any transparency from the federales we can get.

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Via: The Daily Dot

Source: United States Courts (PDF)

Microsoft follows Google’s lead, files request to reveal more data about FISA orders

Microsoft follows Google's lead, files to reveal more data about FISA requests

The Wall Street Journal reports that in a move similar to Google’s request last week, Microsoft has submitted a motion to the secret FISA court to authorize the release of “aggregate data” about the requests it has received. Microsoft published the information it has so far been authorized to reveal a couple of weeks ago, lumping in national security related requests with stats for other criminal warrants and subpoenas. Google and Twitter have been among the loudest requesting the ability to separate national security-related requests like those at the center of the PRISM controversy, however it’s been reported that several companies are negotiating for the ability to be more specific.

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Source: Microsoft Motion (PDF), Wall Street Journal

EFF looks at rules controlling NSA surveillance, sees big risks for Americans

EFF breaks down new FISA and NSA documents on surveillance, warns of potential risks

While The Guardian undoubtedly garnered attention when it posted court papers detailing data collection rules for the NSA, it also provided a lot of detail that isn’t easy to digest. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is more than willing to break down those rules, however — and it doesn’t like what it sees. It’s concerned that there are too many exceptions letting the NSA store and transmit private information, with little oversight preventing investigators from seeing more US data than they should. Allegedly, the rules could defy American rights to anonymous speech; they may also violate attorney-client privileges both inside and outside of the US. We have a hunch that the NSA might disagree with this interpretation of its authority, but you can see all the points of contention for yourself at the link below.

[Image credit: David Drexler, Flickr]

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Source: EFF

Of Course the NSA Can Keep Inadvertently Acquired Data on US Citizens

Of Course the NSA Can Keep Inadvertently Acquired Data on US CitizensThe Guardian has obtained a series of documents which reveal that, while the NSA is expected to "minimize" collection of data suspected to belong to US citizens, any "inadvertently acquired" domestic communications can still be kept and used without a warrant.

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The Daily Roundup for 06.18.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Google challenges FISA court on government data requests, asks for ability to release more details

Google and other companies have already made general calls for more transparency in the wake of the PRISM revelations, and it looks like Mountain View is now escalating those requests to a court challenge. As The Washington Post reports, Google is asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for some additional leeway with the government requests for data that it’s able to disclose, and it’s citing the First Amendment to make its case.

In a statement provided to us (included in full after the break), a Google spokesperson says that the company is specifically asking the court to let it “publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately,” adding that “lumping national security requests together with criminal requests – as some companies have been permitted to do – would be a backward step for our users.” That’s in line with a statement Google made on Friday, which was echoed by Twitter, although there’s no word yet on it or any other companies joining Google in the court challenge at this time.

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Source: The Washington Post

FISA request roundup: where and how often has the government been mining user data?

FISA request roundup where has the government been mining data

As much as the federal government would like it to, the public outrage at the scope of its PRISM program has yet to die down, despite any good the program may have served in the interests of national and local security. The revelations made by Edward Snowdon have cast a bright light on the powers granted our government by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and many companies are taking the opportunity to push the feds to let them tell the public just how many governmental data requests are being made. Of course, no company can release exactly how many requests were made under FISA — companies can only publish the number of total data requests, whether they be from the NSA, local law enforcement or elsewhere. Since so many of Silicon Valley’s giants have been dishing our data to Uncle Sam on the sly, we figured we’d bring you all the numbers in one place.

At the top of the request list is Yahoo, which received between 12-13,000 requests in the first six months of 2013. During that same time period, Apple received between 4-5,000 requests. Meanwhile, Google reported 8,438 requests between July and December of 2012, Facebook received between 9-10,000 and Microsoft was asked for its users data between 6-7,000 times. Prefer pictures to numbers? A colorful chart awaits after the break.

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Source: Yahoo!, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Twitter