US intelligence officials say the National Security Agency is searching the contents of Americans Internet communications that cross the border, looking for citizens who mention information about foreigners under surveillance.The NSA systematically searches - without warrants - thought the emails of many Americans, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing the officials.
Since Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor, disclosed documents of NSA surveillance programs in June, a debate has started about whether the agency has violated privacy of Americans as it spies on their emails and phone data.
The American officials say the surveillance was authorized by the FISA Amendments Act, in which Congress approved eavesdropping on domestic soil without warrants as long as the target was a noncitizen abroad, according to the newspaper.
The 2008 law, however, excluded eavesdropping on voice communications.
The Times quoted Judith A. Emmel, an NSA spokeswoman, as saying that the agencys activities were aimed at gathering intelligence not about Americans but about foreign powers and their agents, foreign organizations, foreign persons or international terrorists.
In carrying out its signals intelligence mission, NSA collects only what it is explicitly authorized to collect, she said. Moreover, the agencys activities are deployed only in response to requirements for information to protect the country and its interests.
However, Jameel Jaffer, a senior lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the paper that such dragnet surveillance will be poisonous to the freedoms of inquiry and association.
He argued that people who know that their communications will be searched will change their behavior.
Theyll hesitate before visiting controversial Web sites, discussing controversial topics or investigating politically sensitive questions, Jaffer said, as quoted by the newspaper.
Individually, these hesitations might appear to be inconsequential, but the accumulation of them over time will change citizens relationship to one another and to the government, he said.
By Press TV
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