Internet Metadata Collection

Although it is a close call, the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner may turn out to be the most important consequence of the Snowden revelations. The CJEU invoked fears of NSA surveillance to strike down the safe harbor agreement that makes it easy for American companies to transfer personal information of Europeans to the United States.

With the Senate continuing its dangerous brinksmanship regarding the imminent expiration of three Patriot Act provisions, opponents of NSA bulk data collection seem poised to celebrate whatever happens. McConnell’s efforts to extend the Patriot Act unchanged lack enough support to pass either chamber. A last-minute deal to pass the USA Freedom Act may be in the works, but would still face a number of procedural and political hurdles.

Lawfare is pleased to announce the publication of a new -- and timely -- paper in the Lawfare Research Paper Series: An Essay on Domestic Surveillance, by Philip B. Heymann, law professor at Harvard Law School and former Deputy Attorney General in the first Clinton Administration. (The paper can be found under the Special Features/Research Papers tab at the top of the Lawfare main page, where it is listed on the index of Lawfare Research Papers.

Following up on my post from last week on the report of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of the UK Parliament, which inter alia recommended that British law for the first time introduce distinctions between citizens and non-citizens for the purpose of regulating electronic surveillance, I'd like to briefly comment on another relevant development.