NSA’s Phone Surveillance Program Is Legal, Judge Rules - East Idaho News
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NSA’s Phone Surveillance Program Is Legal, Judge Rules

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Getty 122713 JudgeRuling?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1388165420995iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York has ruled that the government’s controversial phone data collection program is legal. The ruling comes less than two weeks after a federal judge in Washington found the National Security Agency’s data collection “likely unconstitutional.”

On Friday, U.S. District Judge William Pauley conceded there is a “natural tension” between protecting the nation and preserving civil liberty but what he called the NSA’s “blunt tool” only works, he said, “because it collects everything.”

Pauley said there’s no doubt the NSA “vacuums up information about virtually every telephone call to, from or within the United States” but, citing the 9/11 attacks, the judge said the cost of missing a thread can be horrific. 

The judge said data collection represents the government’s counter punch to al Qaeda.

The judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had argued the NSA had gone too far.

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