Government wins narrow victory in NSA surveillance court case - Polidicks

[QUOTE]In a narrow victory for the government, a federal appeals Friday threw out a lower court decision that held the NSA surveillance program was likely illegal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the lower court decision from 2013, but in doing so, [B]it did not rule on the merits of the program. Instead, it questioned whether there was clear enough evidence that the plaintiffs had been harmed.[/B] "Plaintiffs must establish a 'substantial likelihood of success on the merits'" wrote Judge Janice Rogers Brown. "Plaintiffs fall short of meeting the higher burden of proof required for a preliminary injunction," she said. The Court sent the case back down to the lower court for further proceedings. [B]White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the ruling was consistent with the administration's arguments that the program was constitutional.[/B] "However, the President believed that there were important reforms that could be put in place that would both better protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people, while also making sure that our law enforcement and intelligence officials had the tools that they need to keep us safe," Earnest said at the daily White House briefing. Alex Abdo, staff attorney with the ACLU, and a critic of the program, emphasized that the ruling was "procedural" and that it did not address the constitutionality or the legality of the NSA surveillance program.[/quote] [url]http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/28/politics/government-wins-narrow-victory-in-nsa-case/index.html[/url]

Interesting, I wonder if they'll try to take this to the Supreme Court or not. Could take the media by storm and get the case a lot more attention since it's probably not being looked at nearly as closely since it's only made it to the Court of Appeals

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;48566160]Interesting, I wonder if they'll try to take this to the Supreme Court or not. Could take the media by storm and get the case a lot more attention since it's probably not being looked at nearly as closely since it's only made it to the Court of Appeals[/QUOTE] Taking the media by storm I'll have to doubt. Most people don't know what the NSA is, let alone who Snowden is, or the extent to which they are monitored passively or actively. This video is a great summary of what the American people's priorities when it comes to news, and the fact that the news is more than eager to give it to them: [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtcucHPkFkg[/media] NSA surveillance is here to stay and getting more advanced and pervasive by the day, at this point I just make a mental note to wink at my webcam whenever I open up my laptop lol

[QUOTE=srobins;48566530]Taking the media by storm I'll have to doubt. Most people don't know what the NSA is, let alone who Snowden is, or the extent to which they are monitored passively or actively. This video is a great summary of what the American people's priorities when it comes to news, and the fact that the news is more than eager to give it to them: [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtcucHPkFkg[/media] NSA surveillance is here to stay and getting more advanced and pervasive by the day, at this point I just make a mental note to wink at my webcam whenever I open up my laptop lol[/QUOTE] Lol what are you talking about, everyone knows what the NSA and Snowden is. Just look at polls on whether Snowden is in the right, the overwhelming majority of people have some sort of opinion and so must have some idea of who he is.

One day they'll get a court to rule on the programs merit, but probably long after the heat death of the universe

[QUOTE=smurfy;48567984]Lol what are you talking about, everyone knows what the NSA and Snowden is. Just look at polls on whether Snowden is in the right, the overwhelming majority of people have some sort of opinion and so must have some idea of who he is.[/QUOTE] Polls showed how respondents felt but didn't accurately reflect people who are aware of the situation vs. who are not. Even the following poll which shows 64% of Americans familiar with Snowden feel he was in the wrong makes the distinction that the poll refers to people who are actually familiar with him. I'm on mobile so its too much a hassle to link but watch the Last Week Tonight video on Snowden where he does street interviews. Most people are unaware and the few who know about him only know him peripherally as "the guy who put our troops at risk" [url]http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/21/edward-snowden-unpopular-at-home-a-hero-abroad-poll-finds[/url] [editline]29th August 2015[/editline] The poll I linked shows about 2/3rds of Americans had some level of awareness, having seen or heard some minimal amount of info.. Aka they had at least HEARD of Snowden, which in fairness would be hard to avoid because the initial coverage was pretty widespread. But having heard his name on the news in passing is not the same as being aware of the full extent of what he leaked and revealed

[QUOTE=srobins;48566530]Taking the media by storm I'll have to doubt. Most people don't know what the NSA is, let alone who Snowden is, or the extent to which they are monitored passively or actively. This video is a great summary of what the American people's priorities when it comes to news, and the fact that the news is more than eager to give it to them: [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtcucHPkFkg[/media] NSA surveillance is here to stay and getting more advanced and pervasive by the day, at this point I just make a mental note to wink at my webcam whenever I open up my laptop lol[/QUOTE] Not our priorities. You think the public controls what the few news channels show? You've got Fox for Fox, Comcast for NBC and Time Warner for CNN. And you know how these companies are. It's all about favorite of the month, and if there isn't one they'll make one

[QUOTE=TheTalon;48568874]Not our priorities. You think the public controls what the few news channels show? You've got Fox for Fox, Comcast for NBC and Time Warner for CNN. And you know how these companies are. It's all about favorite of the month, and if there isn't one they'll make one[/QUOTE] They're going to play to what people are interested in, they wouldn't be cutting to a Justin Bieber story if 90% of viewers weren't more interested in hearing about that then the fact that the NSA is peeping on their webcams to improve facial recognition software

[QUOTE=smurfy;48567984]Lol what are you talking about, everyone knows what the NSA and Snowden is. Just look at polls on whether Snowden is in the right, the overwhelming majority of people have some sort of opinion and so must have some idea of who he is.[/QUOTE] Just because people know doesn't mean they'll care. It means even less if they actually vote with the matter in mind, if it's even a priority issue for them to vote on.