On Monday, The Electronic Privacy Information Center had its appeal on the supposedly improper collection of electronic records presented to — and rejected by — the Supreme Court. The group suggested that a secret federal court gave permission to the government to collect the records. Although the NSA has revealed that it received secret court approval to collect, what is known as metadata, from companies like Verizon, Apple and Google.
Mark Rotenberg, president of EPIC, commented: “Telephone records, even without the content of the calls, can reveal an immense amount of sensitive, private information. There are no reasonable grounds for the NSA to have access to every call record of every Verizon customer.” The EPIC’s petition also stated that court justices have a right to argue against the actions of the NSA. “Because the NSA sweeps up judicial and congressional communications, it inappropriately arrogates exceptional power to the executive branch,” the petition stated.
However, the government brief filed last month states that the petition “does not meet the stringent requirements for mandamus relief, and this court lacks jurisdiction” to take action.
The Obama administration added: “The mandamus petition does not establish that it is more than speculative that the NSA has reviewed, or might in the future review, records pertaining to petitioner’s members, particularly given the stringent, (Surveillance Court)-imposed restrictions that limit access to the database to counterterrorism purposes.”
