Source: BBC
A US judge has ruled the National Security Agency’s mass collection of telephone data may be unconstitutional.
Federal District Judge Richard Leon said the electronic spy agency’s practice was an “arbitrary invasion”.
The agency’s collection of “metadata”, including telephone numbers and times and dates of calls, was exposed by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The White House dismissed a suggestion Mr Snowden could receive amnesty if he stopped leaking documents.
On Monday in a Washington DC federal court, Judge Leon called the NSA’s surveillance programme “indiscriminate” and an “almost Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States”.
‘Irreparable harm’
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by conservative activist Larry Klayman, a user of a Verizon mobile telephone who challenged the NSA’s collection of metadata on his behalf and that of a client.
The ruling is likely to be raised on Tuesday afternoon when US President Barack Obama meets executives from the nation’s top technology companies – including Google and Apple.
He is expected to discuss the NSA’s surveillance programmes as well as government information technology reforms.
Categories: Americas, United States