On Thursday, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, a “secret federal appeals court” as described by Wired, finally declassified an opinion from August of 2008 that approved of 2007 legislation giving warrant-less eavesdropping powers to the government when used on “international communications.” Lest we forget, that includes phone calls where one end of the line is you, living in Kansas, so long as the other end is… oh, call it your sister visiting London. According to FISCR, that’s not an unreasonable breach of the Fourth Amendment, which says (I can’t help myself)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Yes, calling your sister in London is probable cause that you’ve done something suspicious enough for the government to listen to your conversation. According to the opinion, which is redacted to keep out juicy bits like nouns, you were protected by all sorts of measures. For example, information gathering conducted on your phone call (in other words, the conversation) “did not constitute electronic surveillance”… except that “[n]othing in the definition of electronic surveillance… shall be construed to encompass surveillance directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside of the United States.” What, that thing? Of course it’s not a tape recorder, you’re in Canada! (If that sentence doesn’t seem to make any sense, welcome to my world.)
I have to admit, I’m not really coming to any conclusions at the moment, I’m just a) steamed beyond belief, and b) assuming that not everybody keeps up with this stuff. And you should. Grrrr. Tune in next time, when I’ll go over the Attorney General-designate and his brave stand in defense of felony tresspassers.