Government privacy watchdog endorses NSA surveillance of foreign nationals News
Government privacy watchdog endorses NSA surveillance of foreign nationals

[JURIST] The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) [official website] issued a report [report, PDF] Wednesday endorsing the National Security Agency‘s (NSA) [official website] surveillance program [JURIST backgrounder] before a final meeting [press release] to discuss and vote on the release of the report. The report contained the results of a study the board conducted on how the NSA uses section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 [text] and if it complies with FISA and constitutional requirements. The report also included recommendations which were intended to “strike a better balance between privacy, civil rights, and national security.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] released a press release [press release] concerning the report and its contents. ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer noted that the report “fails to fully grasp the civil liberties and human rights implications of permitting the government sweeping access to the communications of innocent people.”

The NSA has come under intense scrutiny ever since Edward Snowden [JURIST news archive] leaked [JURIST report] top-secret NSA documents last year. In May, the US

Latest DISPATCHES
Latest COMMENTARY
Latest FEATURES
THIS DAY @ LAW

Berlin Airlift ends

The Berlin Airlift, a US-UK effort to circumvent a Soviet blockade of allied-occupied West Berlin, ended on September 30, 1949. After the Soviet Union cut off supply access to West Berlin, the US and UK sent necessities to the enclave by air. The effort ended four months after the Soviet Union ended the Berlin blockade. Learn more about the Berlin Airlift.

22 Nazi leaders convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg

On September 30, 1946, the international military tribunal constituted by the Allied powers in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes committed during World War II.

Merck pulls Vioxx from drug market and faces class actions suit

On September 30, 2004, the pharmaceutical company, Merck, pulled its arthritis drug, Vioxx from the worldwide market, due to strokes and heart attacks in patients, but the move did not stop over 45,000 former users and their families from suing Merck. The plaintiffs, however, have struggled to collect damages awarded to them in successful litigations. Learn more about the plaintiffs in these suits from the New York Times.