Cyber Roundup: Terrorism Defendants Challenge the U.S. Gov and Hackers File Suit Against German Gov; Update on Lavabit’s Challenge to Civil Contempt Order
In October of last year, Lavabit challenged a civil contempt order issued after the service refused to hand over its encryption key that would have allowed the government to conduct surveillance on Edward Snowden. According to the Washington Post, at the beginning of this month, the Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments on the issues. Orin Kerr offers a link to the audio as well as insightful commentary on the arguments presented. You can find both here. Here, too, is a link to one of the briefs filed by the government.
According to Phys.Org, a group of hackers and human rights activists have filed suit against the German government for allegedly illegally aiding foreign spies, namely the National Security Agency (NSA) and GCHQ of Great Britain. The plaintiffs claim the failures under Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed for surveillance to be conducted on German citizens beyond the scope of what is permitted by domestic law.
A reporter seeking (through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request) information on the cost to the federal government to build Guantanamo Bay’s prison facility is facing resistance from the Obama Administration, according to reports by the Miami Herald. The sole document that is reportedly responsive to the request has been cited as exempt from disclosure because it “contained details of internal deliberations and the names of many officials who were entitled to privacy.”
Toward the end of last month, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Coleman ruled that the defense would be permitted to see secret documents detailing the government’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) request to conduct clandestine surveillance of the 20-year-old defendant and accused attempted terrorist, Adel Daoud, according to the Washington Post. Daoud is a United States citizen from Chicago who has denied allegations that he took a “phony car bomb from an undercover FBI agent . . . parked it by a downtown Chicago bar and pressed a trigger,” the report continues.
Wired recently reported that Uzbekistan native and suspected terrorist Jamshid Muhtorov filed a challenge to the constitutionality of the NSA surveillance program, pursuant to which he was targeted. Wired’s article states the challenge will “likely [] be litigated all the way to the Supreme Court.”
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