| Section 702 was written, and has been interpreted, to have very few restrictions. 1) It bars the NSA from collecting data on people unless "reasonably believed to be located outside the United States."[1] Data can be intentionally collected on any communication that has at least one foreign recipient or sender.[2] The wording of the warrants specifically contradict the fourth amendment, but as long as the target is "reasonably believed" to be a foreigner, it doesn't matter to the NSA. 2) The test of whether someone is located outside the US has been interpreted as a keyword-based system indicating that it is at least 51% likely. [3] 3) The NSA does not define "collection" as actually obtaining the data or metadata, but as a human analyst viewing the data.[4] 4) According to Snowden: "NSA likes to use "domestic" as a weasel word here for a number of reasons. The reality is that due to the FISA Amendments Act and its section 702 authorities, Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant. They excuse this as "incidental" collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications." [5] If they realize that it is actually an American, they have no obligation to delete the communications and will continue to store it indefinitely. The NSA has been written a blank check to do whatever they want, existing checks and balances are simply insufficient. Whether that is due to their interpretation only breaking the spirit of the law (but not letter), or whether this is unconstitutional, is up for debate. [1] FAA 702.g.1.B http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ261/pdf/PLAW-110pub... [2] FAA 702.b.4 [3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence... [4] https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/wordgames#collect [5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-n... |