Court Grants Secrecy for Memo on Phone Data

The New York Times ^ | January 3rd, 2014 | CHARLIE SAVAGE

[SgtBilko]

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that the Obama administration may continue to withhold a Justice Department memo that apparently opened a loophole in laws protecting the privacy of consumer data. The memo establishes the legal basis for telephone companies to hand over customers’ calling records to the government without a subpoena or court order, even when there is no emergency, according to a 2010 report by the Justice Department’s inspector general. The details of the legal theory, and the circumstances in which it could be invoked, remain unclear.

[SgtBilko]

Zero turned the constitution into a piece of scratchy vintage toilet paper.

[Jacquerie]

The Office of Legal Counsel issues binding legal advice to the executive branch. If it says something is permitted, officials who act on that advice are essentially immune from prosecution.

Just keep voting GOP. All will be well.

[hans56]

Of all the data that can be collected, the most chilling to me is the collection of the time stamped GPS data.
It’s unreal how they have the ability to track and keep our movements.
Why isn’t this being discussed?

[hans56]

http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-vorratsdaten

The link shows what they can do