Press release March 10, 2015
NSA ‘Upstream’ Surveillance Undermines Privacy, Freedom of Expression
In response to a lawsuit challenging the U.S. National Security Agency’s mass interception of online communications between individuals in the United States and abroad, Freedom House issued the following statement
Washington
In response to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. National Security Agency’s mass interception of online communications between individuals in the United States and abroad — “upstream surveillance” of text-based traffic — Freedom House issued the following statement:
“The NSA’s mass, warrantless surveillance of internet communications can undermine the basic right to privacy and inhibit free exchanges of ideas,” said Daniel Calingaert, executive vice-president. “Congress should reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to clearly require that authorities have probable cause before undertaking surveillance of emails, web-browsing content, and search engine queries, a principle the courts should uphold. Protections against warrantless searches should extend to our online communications.”
Background:
On March 10, 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation and eight co-plaintiffs filed suit in U.S. District Court in Maryland against the National Security Agency, challenging “the suspicionless seizure and searching of internet traffic.”
The U.S. is rated Free in Freedom of the World 2015, Free in Freedom of the Press 2014, and Free in Freedom on the Net 2014.
Photo Credit: Aerial photograph of the National Security Agency by Trevor Paglen. Commissioned by Creative Time Reports, 2013. (Flickr/Creative Commons)