Reuters/Jason Reed (think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
SitiWanMahani - Peguam dari Jabatan Kehakiman telah menggesa hakim untuk meng-hentikan tuntutan mahkamah terhadap program pengintip NSA itu. Ini datang selepas keputusan hakim sebelum ini bahawa koleksi NSA itu metadata adalah mungkin tidak mengikut perlembagaan dan “hampir ‘Orwellian” dalam alam semula jadi.
Pada hari Rabu, peguam kerajaan merayu kepada Mahkamah Daerah Amerika Syarikat Hakim Richard Leon untuk meletakkan prosiding mahkamah ditahan untuk 2 tindakan undang-undang terhadap NSA difailkan oleh aktivis undang-undang konservatif, Larry Klayman.
Klayman telah mencabar kesahihan program NSA yang mengumpul dan menyimpan metadata rakyat Amerika secara besar-besaran.
Peguam-peguam berhujah bahawa jika tindakan undang-undang dibenarkan untuk pergi lebih jauh, mereka akan membawa kepada pendedahan maklumat rahsia yang akan mewakili “risiko besar” kepada keselamatan negara.
“Plaintif telah menjelaskan niat mereka untuk mendapatkan penemuan ini jenis maklumat yang masih diklasifikasikan, mengenai sasaran dan mata pelajaran, pembekal, dan butir-butir operasi lain yang dicabar program perisikan NSA yang mengambil bahagian,” kata usul itu.
Dengan cara ini, peguam-peguam mahu tindakan undang-undang digantung sehingga Mahkamah Rayuan Amerika Syarikat untuk Daerah Columbia Litar mendengar rayuan Hakim Leon 16 - Disember yang memerintah bahawa perjumpaan tersebut NSA ini sejumlah besar metadata mungkin telah menentang perlembagaan. Amerika Syarikat Jabatan Pertahanan merayu pemerintah pada 3 Januari.
Dalam pendengaran bulan lalu, Hakim Leon memutuskan bahawa perhimpunan metadata berkemungkinan melanggar pindaan keempat, dalam kemunduran secara sah yang penting yang pertama untuk agensi keselamatan kerajaan. Leon berkata kerajaan Amerika Syarikat telah gagal untuk memetik satu contoh apabila analisis metadata telah meng-halang serangan pengganas yang berpotensi.
“Saya mempunyai keraguan yang serius tentang keberkesanan program koleksi metadata sebagai satu cara menjalankan siasatan yang sensitif dalam kes-kes yang melibatkan ancaman akan berlaku keganasan,” tulis Leon dalam ketetapan beliau. Beliau menambah bahawa plaintif dapat menunjukkan bahawa kepentingan privasi mereka “mengatasi” penuaian NSA itu data peribadi mereka.
“Teknologi hampir – ‘Orwellian’ yang membolehkan kerajaan untuk menyimpan dan menganalisis metadata telefon bagi setiap pengguna telefon di Amerika Syarikat adalah tidak seperti apa-apa yang mungkin telah diilhamkan pada tahun 1979,” tulis Leon, merujuk kepada keputusan mahkamah 1979 yang memerintah orang Amerika tidak mempunyai privasi Pindaan Keempat hak kepada nombor telefon mereka panggil.
Sejak bekas CIA kontraktor yang kini menjadi pemberi maklumat, Edward Snowden, mendedahkan data terperingkat pada telatah mengintip NSA tahun lepas, kerajaan Amerika telah dibenarkan program pengintipan sebagai sebagai demi kepentingan kesela-matan negara dan memerangi keganasan.
Berikutan keputusan Hakim Leon pada Disember, Hakim Daerah William Pauley di Manhattan memutuskan bahawa program pengintip NSA itu adalah undang-undang dalam tuntutan mahkamah yang berasingan yang dikemukakan oleh Kesatuan Kebebasan Sivil Amerika. Pauley menyifatkan program pengawasan sebagai “balas menumbuk” dengan keganasan dan berkata “alat ini tumpul hanya berfungsi kerana ia mengumpul segala-galanya.”
“Teknologi benarkan Al-Qaeda beroperasi berpusat dan merancang serangan pengganas antarabangsa dari jauh. Telefoni pukal program koleksi metadata mewakili balas menumbuk kerajaan,” Hakim Pauley membuat kesimpulan.
US govt attempts to block lawsuit against NSA
Lawyers from the Justice Department have urged a judge to halt a lawsuit against the NSA’s spy programs. This comes after the judge’s previous ruling that the NSA’s collection of metadata was likely unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian" in nature.
On Wednesday, government lawyers appealed to US District Court Judge Richard Leon to put court proceedings on hold for two lawsuits against the NSA filed by conservative legal activist, Larry Klayman.
Klayman has challenged the legality of the NSA’s programs that collect and store the metadata of American citizens on a massive scale.
The lawyers argued that if the lawsuits were allowed to go further, they would lead to the disclosure of classified information which would represent a “significant risk” to national security.
“Plaintiffs have made clear their intentions to seek discovery of this kind of still-classified information, concerning targets and subjects, participating providers, and other operational details of the challenged NSA intelligence programs,” said the motion.
In this way, the lawyers want the lawsuits suspended until the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hears an appeal of Judge Leon’s December-16 ruling that the NSA’s gathering of massive amounts of metadata probably went against the constitution. The US Department of Defense appealed the ruling on January 3.
In last month’s hearing, Judge Leon ruled that the gathering of metadata was likely in breach of the fourth amendment, in the first significant legal setback for the government security agency. Leon noted that the US government has failed to cite a single example of when the analysis of metadata has prevented a potential terrorist attack.
“I have serious doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism,” wrote Leon in his ruling. He added that the plaintiffs were able to show that their privacy interests “outweighed” the NSA’s harvesting of their personal data.
“The almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived in 1979,” wrote Leon, referring to a 1979 court decision that ruled Americans do not have a Fourth Amendment privacy right to phone numbers they call.
Since former CIA contractor-turned whistleblower, Edward Snowden, revealed classified data on the NSA’s spying antics last year, the American government has justified its espionage programs as being in the interests of national security and the fight against terrorism.
Following Judge Leon’s ruling in December, District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ruled that the NSA’s spy programs were legal in a separate lawsuit lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union. Pauley described the surveillance programs as the “counter-punch” to terrorism and said "this blunt tool only works because it collects everything."
“Technology allowed Al-Qaeda to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely. The bulk telephony metadata collection program represents the government's counter-punch,” Judge Pauley concluded.
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