privacy Riley v. California Smith v. Obama
EPIC, Legal Scholars, Technical Experts Urge Federal Appeals Court to Safeguard Telephone "Metadata"
EPIC has filed an amicus curiae brief, joined by 33 technical experts and legal scholars, in support of a challenge to the NSA telephone record collection program. The case Smith v. Obama will be heard by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this fall. Earlier this year, a lower court ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not protect telephone call record information because of a 1979 case Smith v. Maryland. In the brief for the federal appeals court, EPIC wrote that "changes in technology and the Supreme Court's recent decision in Riley v. California favor a new legal rule that recognizes the privacy interest inherent in modern communications records." EPIC routinely participates as a friend of the court in cases raising novel privacy and civil liberties issues. For more information, see EPIC: Smith v. Obama, EPIC: Riley v. California, and EPIC Amicus Briefs.