Hey, look, there are laws about when the government can snoop metadata. Let's see what they are [View all]

[Recursion]

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-II/chapter-206

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/chapter-36/subchapter-III

The SCOTUS case Smith v. Maryland said that users of a phone do not have a Constitutional expectation of privacy about the numbers they call and receive calls from, because those numbers have been given to a third party to route them. So the privacy we have in that data is statutory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_v._Maryland

Just to make it clear: according to SCOTUS for over 30 years now, you do not have a Constitutional expectation of privacy in a number you dial.

The ECPA was an attempt to regulate the snooping of these metadata by law enforcement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Communications_Privacy_Act

The ECPA required law enforcement to get a court order to use an electronic device that captured the numbers dialed to and from a trunk or phone.

Just to make it clear: by statute since 1986, law enforcement must have a court order to find out what numbers you dial.

The PATRIOT act by statute expanded the same status to Internet traffic data, though apparently this had been more or less taken for granted by many courts before that.

FISA further extends the use of devices that track this meta-data by establishing a new clandestine court to grant the surveillance writs.