- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

NSA Declassifies Reports of Privacy Violations

© Photo : National Security AgencyNational Security Agency's headquarters
National Security Agency's headquarters - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The US National Security Agency released intelligence documents covering NSA’s unlawful activities in 2001-2013. The agency claims that the majority of violations were committed due to unintentional technical or human error, with a few cases involving intentional misuse.

MOSCOW, December 26 (Sputnik) – On Christmas Eve, the US National Security Agency released information on its surveillance activities that violated privacy of American citizens.

Surveillance cameras are visible near the U.S.Capitol in Washington Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013 - Sputnik International
Blocking NSA Reform to Continue Citizens Rights Violations: ACLU
The heavily redacted intelligence documents were published on the agency’s website in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

The documents, released to the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB), include quarterly and annual reports submitted from 2001 to 2013, NSA said in a statement.

"The vast majority of compliance incidents involve unintentional technical or human error," the agency stated, adding that there were "very few cases that involve the intentional misuse of a signals intelligence system".

he US Senate voted in a 58-42 vote against a bipartisan bill that stops the National Security Agency's (NSA) bulk data collection program, targeting millions of Americans. - Sputnik International
US Senators Vote Against NSA Bulk Data Collection Bill
In one of such cases, a US Army sergeant spied on his wife using the NSA database, according to Fox News. Other instances of privacy violations include sending information on US citizens to unauthorized recipients, as well as storing it on unsecure computers, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

NSA said it conducted thorough investigation of such cases, reporting probe results to the IOB and the US Department of Justice. As a result, appropriate disciplinary or administrative action was taken, the agency said.

NSA also said it "goes to great lengths to ensure compliance with" the US Constitution and laws.

Private companies should not use the law of talion, taking revenge over the entities, which are suspected to be hacking them. - Sputnik International
Former NSA Official Warns Companies Against Cyber-Retaliation
"By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies," the agency said in a statement.

ACLU believes NSA needs to improve its accountability. "The government conducts sweeping surveillance under this authority — surveillance that increasingly puts Americans' data in the hands of the NSA," Patrick C. Toomey, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, told Bloomberg. "Despite that fact, this spying is conducted almost entirely in secret and without legislative or judicial oversight," he added.

The Freedom of Information Act provides that any person has a right to request access to federal agency records, unless they are protected from disclosure with special exemptions. Other federal agencies, fugitives from law and representatives of foreign governments cannot request information under this act.

NSA’s mass surveillance program caused domestic and international uproar in 2013 after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden disclosed thousands of classified documents relating to the activities of the intelligence agency.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала