Once again, from the desk of the "NO-SHIT-SHERLOCK" news department here at Acerbic Politics

NSA phone-records spying is totally, utterly illegal

Cory Doctorow
Wednesday, January 29, 2014, 11:13 pm
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    215 allows FBI to get records relevant to an investigation. PCLOB: NSA program fails on "FBI", "records," "relevant" & "investigation."
    - Julian Sanchez (@normative) January 23, 2014
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As Julian Sanchez points out, the NSA's program of phone record collection is clearly, unequivocally, and totally illegal (and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board agrees). The Patriot Act's section 215 allows the FBI to collect relevant records for a specific investigation.
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The NSA isn't collecting records, it isn't the FBI, the data it collects isn't relevant, and there is no specific investigation. It's pretty amazing that there are still people (including Obama) insisting that the program is legal.