IPFS News Link • Privacy Rights
What Information Can The Justice Department Get From Your Phone Records?
• http://www.popsci.com, By Kelsey D. AthertonThe relevant law for wiretapping phone communications dates back to a 1979 Supreme Court decision, which said there is a distinction in privacy between dialing a number and listening to a call; the Supreme Court narrowly limited protection to the latter.
The backstory: Last year, the AP ran an article about an al-Qaeda underwear bomb plot that relied on sensitive information given to the news service by an undisclosed source. The Department of Justice considers leaking classified information to be a national security risk. When someone leaks to the press, the department's policy is to pursue the leak, not the journalists who extracted it.