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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLawyers eye NSA data as treasure trove for evidence in murder, divorce cases
The National Security Agency has spent years demanding that companies turn over their data. Now, the spy agency finds the shoe is on the other foot. A defendant in a Florida murder trial says telephone records collected by the NSA as part of its surveillance programs hold evidence that would help prove his innocence, and his lawyer has demanded that prosecutors produce those records. On Wednesday, the federal government filed a motion saying it would refuse, citing national security. But experts say the novel legal argument could encourage other lawyers to fight for access to the newly disclosed NSA surveillance database.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander, I guess," said George Washington University privacy law expert Dan Solove. "In a way, it's kind of ironic.
Defendant Terrance Brown is accused of participating in the 2010 murder of a Brinks security truck driver. Brown maintains his innocence, and claims cellphone location records would show he wasn't at the scene of the crime. Brown's cellphone provider MetroPCS couldn't produce those records during discovery because it had deleted the data already.
On seeing the story in the Guardian indicating that Verizon had been ordered to turn over millions of calling records to the NSA last month, Brown's lawyer had a novel idea: Make the NSA produce the records.
http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/20/19061109-lawyers-eye-nsa-data-as-treasure-trove-for-evidence-in-murder-divorce-cases?lite
RC
(25,592 posts)Ya want to collect information on everyone, ya gotta share it with the people ya got it from. National security, my ass.
National insecurity is more like it. We are supposed to trust you, but you don't trust us? Bite me. You are far more dangerous than we are.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)And could ever be.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)aquart
(69,014 posts)I have sudden vision of the NSA standing over mountains of info saying "Precious, my Precious."
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)How this pans out is going to be interesting.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Love it when the lawyers get into the mix........