Part 1: Getting To Grips With US Government Requests For Data

This article was first published in the Privacy Laws & Business International Report, October 2015. www.privacylaws.com

Under the new USA Freedom Act, intelligence agencies must now be more specific when requesting data from private companies. Yuli Takatsuki and Phil Lee report from California.

There are few topics that provoke greater consternation and debate within privacy and data protection circles than the US government's power to access ordinary citizens' electronic communications data in the name of foreign intelligence and national security. In 2013, Edward Snowden's release of NSA material revealing the PRISM surveillance program blew the debate wide open and has been called the most significant leak in US constitutional history. Although much of the information about government surveillance and data collection programs remain classified, what has become apparent is that US government agencies have been pushing their statutory powers to the limit for