Fergie's Tech Blog

9th Circuit Deals Setback to NSA Surveillance Victim

Ryan Singel writes on Threat Level:

A federal appeals court reversed a decision letting two Americans who claim to have been given proof they were spied on by the government's secret, post-9/11 surveillance program to rely on a document the government accidentally turned over to prove that they were spied on.

Instead, the court ruled that the document was protected by the so-called state secrets privilege, but sent the matter back down to a lower court to see if a redress provision in the nation's spying laws would re-allow the document to be used.

The ruling is also a setback for the government which wanted the suit tossed simply on the grounds that any lawsuit about a government surveillance program would hurt the nation.

posted by Fergie @ 11/16/2007 12:13:00 PM