Lawyers

• Supreme Court to decide on NSA Surveillance tactics

  In an event, two justices of the US Supreme Court, namely Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, confirmed that eventually, the high court would decide on the legality of the NSA surveillance activities despite their acknowledged lack of expertise on the matter.

• Obama says NSA will stop phone data collection and storage, data search will require court approval

  As the US government's attempt to change its public image in terms of government surveillance, the US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that his administration is planning to stop the collection and storage of phone call data and will seek court approval for every data search, the Wall Street Journal said.

• Top Web company executives to meet Obama over surveillance, data privacy

  Company sources told Reuters that Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg were one of the many executives of top Internet companies who are set to attend a meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday over privacy, technology and intelligence issues.

• Snowden's latest leak reveals month-long NSA surveillance on an entire country-worth of phone calls

  The latest leaks of government whistleblower Edward Snowden published on the Washington Post detailed National Security Agency programs MYSTIC and RETRO were used to monitor an entire telephone network-worth of phone calls over a 30-day period of at least five countries.

• International Human Rights Committee to review NSA's compliance with US privacy statute

  An international body on human rights will be reviewing surveillance practices by the US government for violations of privacy rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights treaty, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said.

• U.S. District Of Manhattan Judge William Pauley Says NSA Phone Data Surveillance Program Is Lawful (Video)

  U.S District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ruled that the National Security Agency's program, which collects the records of million of Americans' phone calls, is a lawful procedure

• President Obama Reflects On Ups & Downs of 2013 During End Of Year Press Conference (Video)

  President Barack Obama addressed a litany of topics in his year-end press conference on Friday, CNN reported. As if this was the worst year of his presidency, Obama said there have been many successes. "Among those are an increase in wireless capacities in classrooms, a manufacturing hub in Youngstown, Ohio, that will "build on the renaissance we're seeing in manufacturing" and the fact that the U.S. is "producing more oil and natural gas in this country than we're importing,"

• NSA: U.S. District Judge Richard Leon Calls Collection Of Domestic Phone Records 'Unconstitutional' Putting Justice Dept. On Defensive (Video)

  U.S. District Judge Richard Leon declared Monday that the "government's once-secret collection of domestic phone records is unconstitutional, setting up likely appeals and further challenges to the data mining, revealed by classified leaker Edward Snowden. Leon said the NSA's collection of metadata (or "phone records of the time and numbers called without any disclosure of content") violated privacy records

• NSA Spying: White House Faces Backlash From Allies Over Surveillance Program & Pledges To Limit Its Reach (Video)

  The National Security Agency (NSA) denied the German media report over the weekend that President Barack Obama had been told the agency told him in 2010 that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was spied up and had allowed it to continue, news reports said.

• Surveillance Probe: U.S. Conducted Large-Scale Spying On French Citizens According To NSA Revelations (Video)

  France and Mexico have taken exception to new revelations that Washington tapped millions of phone calls and hacked into their leaders e-mails

• Brazil Rejects U.S: President Dilma Rousseff Cancels State Visit to Washington in October Due to NSA Surveillance Program (Video)

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff nixed her state visit to Washington in October because she is incensed the U.S. spied on her personal communication as part of the National Security Agency surveillance program

• Edward Snowden: NSA Leaker Impersonated High-Ranking Officials to Grab 58,000 Documents of Highly Classified Material (Video)

  British authorities said that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was carrying 58,000 documents, nearly at least three times as many highly sensitive documents as previously said by media outlets.

• Edward Snowden: NSA Leaker Still Has Not Received All Paperwork Allowing Him to Leave Moscow Airport (Video)

  Early reports on Wednesday indicated that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden obtained permission to leave the transit area of a Moscow Airport, after authorities issued documents allowing him to cross the border into Russia, but his attorney Anatoly Kucherena said that he has not received all of the proper documents that would allow him to leave a Moscow airport's transit area, CNN reported. Kucherena, who helped Snowden file his bid for temporary asylum in the country on July 16, hand delivered documentation that allowed him to clear immigration at the airport.

• Edward Snowden: Former NSA Contractor Annouces He Will File Asylum Request in Russia (Video)

  Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden submitted a request for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday, his lawyer said, claiming he faces persecution from the U.S. government and could face torture or death.