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Secrecy Concerns Mount Over Spy Powers Targeting US Data Centers


A coalition of digital rights groups is demanding the US declassify records that would clarify just how expansive a major surveillance program really is.

The American Civil Liberties Union and organizations like it say the bill has rendered the statutory language governing the limits of a powerful wiretap tool overly vague, potentially subjecting large swaths of corporate America to warrantless and secretive surveillance practices. In response, a coalition of digital rights organizations from the Brennan Center for Justice to the Electronic Frontier Foundation are pressing the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, and the nation’s top spy, Avril Haines, to declassify details about a relevant court case that could, they say, shed much-needed light on the situation. In a letter to the top officials, more than 20 such organizations say they believe the new definition of an ECSP adopted by Congress might “permit the NSA to compel almost any US business to assist” the agency, noting that all companies today provide some sort of “service” and have access to equipment on which “communications” are stored.

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