NEW YORK
A U.S. intelligence agency's practice of systematically collecting data about phone calls is illegal, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York held that the section of the U.S. Patriot Act, which the National Security Agency relied on to justify the collection of phone records on a massive scale, "cannot be legitimately interpreted to permit the systematic bulk collection of domestic calling records."
The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, known as the ACLU, in June 2013, immediately after former computer security contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the program.
Under the program, the NSA collected information including phone numbers and length of the calls but not their content.
Among individuals targeted was German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Thursday’s ruling did not halt the program, which is set to expire June 1, but urged Congress to take action.
“The current reform proposals from Congress look anemic in light of the serious issues raised by the Second Circuit,” Anthony D. Romero, executive director of ACLU, said in a statement.
“Congress needs to up its reform game if it’s going to address the court’s concerns," he said.
Snowden’s revelations from Hong Kong caused an international outrage and has brought intense scrutiny about how the U.S. views privacy and its methods of gathering intelligence.
He was charged with espionage in June 2013, and the Justice Department began negotiating with authorities in Hong Kong in attempts to initiate extradition procedures.
The Hong Kong government declined to act, and Snowden eventually fled to Russia.
“For years, the government secretly spied on millions of innocent Americans based on a shockingly broad interpretation of its authority," ACLU Staff Attorney Alex Abdo said.
"The court rightly rejected the government’s theory that it may stockpile information on all of us in case that information proves useful in the future. Mass surveillance does not make us any safer, and it is fundamentally incompatible with the privacy necessary in a free society," he added.
The U.S. Patriot Act was passed just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and sought to strengthen the U.S. security apparatus.
