U.S. privacy board says NSA phone program illegal; should end

[DirkGently]

3. And more from the NYT:

The report also sheds light on the history of the once-secret bulk collection program. It contains the first official acknowledgment that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court produced no judicial opinion detailing its legal rationale for the program until last August, even though it had been issuing orders to phone companies for the records and to the N.S.A. for how it could handle them since May 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/us/politics/watchdog-report-says-nsa-program-is-illegal-and-should-end.html?_r=0

The Obama administration has portrayed the bulk collection program as useful and lawful while at the same time acknowledging concerns about privacy and potential abuse. But in its report, the board lays out what may be the most detailed critique of the government’s once-secret legal theory behind the program: that a law known as Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the F.B.I. to obtain business records deemed “relevant” to an investigation, can be legitimately interpreted as authorizing the N.S.A. to collect all calling records in the country.

So, to recap: NSA massive phone date collection is not legal, and in fact no legal basis for it has even ever been articulated, it is specifically not Constitutional, and is NOT protecting us from terrorism.

That's according to a board within the Executive branch of the United States Government.

And President Obama would like to keep it, perhaps with some tweaks.