From The Washington Post:
A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that the National Security Agency’s collection of millions of Americans’ phone records violates the Patriot Act, the first appeals court to weigh in on a controversial surveillance program that has divided Congress and ignited a national debate over the proper scope of the government’s spy powers…In its decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York, determined that the government stretched the meaning of the statute to enable the vast collection of Americans’ data from U.S. phone companies on a daily basis without a warrant. The NSA is collecting “metadata” – or records of times, dates and durations of calls, but not call content.
