Skip to main content

Federal judge voices concerns over FBI and NSA surveillance

FBI Cybercrime
FBI
A federal court judge has voiced worries about a string of instances where the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency overstepped the approved limits of their surveillance activities. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Thomas Hogan stated that he was “extremely concerned” about the agencies’ behavior.

These criticisms stem from surveillance data being kept much longer than it should have been, according to a report from Politico. These materials were meant to be wiped after either two or five years, but apparently remained accessible for four years after they should have been purged.

Recommended Videos

Hogan wrote that it was “perhaps more disappointing” that the government had failed to inform the Court that this information was being retained. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence made a response claiming that there was no intent to mislead, but acknowledged that the situation could have been explained with more clarity.

The NSA claimed that retention of some of the data was required to prevent future situations where data might be collected without legal authority. However, that argument ignores a separate court order that officials are required to comply with, and the fact that not all the information in question was related to that scenario.

Hogan made these comments in November 2015, but they’ve only been released to the public this week. A hearing last October saw FBI representatives detail plans to tighten up their efforts, which Hogan found to be satisfactory — although the judge did confirm that he would be checking in with their progress at a later date.

It’s becoming more and more clear that data privacy will be a major issue shaping discourse over the next few years. Traditionally, we’ve seen these debates center around protecting information from outside attackers, but examples like this demonstrate the need for our own governmental agencies to be held to exacting standards.

Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
I have Meta Quest 3S and this is the best VR accessory yet — it’s on sale
Kiwi Design best VR accessory Meta Quest 3 headstrap

Ahead of the holidays and some prime family time, I've picked up the Meta Quest 3S. So far, my family is absolutely loving it, and my kids are constantly bugging me to play games, explore worlds, and get virtual. Naturally, I manage the time we're all spending -- you don't want too much screen time. But regardless, every one of us ends up becoming immersed, which means spending a lot of time with the headset on. One of the biggest drawbacks of the stock setup is that the headstrap is uncomfortable, and it puts a lot of pressure on your face. That means, the Meta Quest 3S's best VR accessory -- and the Meta Quest 3, too -- is a new, custom strap.

We grabbed the Kiwi Design Quest 3-Quest 3S headstrap and it's fantastic. It's also on sale right now for 20% off. Normally $30, it's discounted to $24 with a coupon code. Why am I sharing? If you pick up a Meta Quest 3 or 3S for yourself, or you're planning to gift one to someone over the holidays, I highly recommend ordering one of these straps. It vastly improves the experience and makes wearing the headset much more comfortable. It's also easy to adjust the fit, which is a big deal for kids. You have no idea how frustrating it was to constantly adjust the headstrap for my children between each turn.

Read more
Best early GPU Black Friday deals: Save on top graphics cards now
The Gigabyte RX 6750 GRE graphics card over a dark background.

Building a PC from scratch can be a lot of fun, and with the upcoming Black Friday on November 29, it's a perfect time for you to pick up hardware. One of the most fun bits of any build is picking the parts, and for that, graphics cards are probably the most fun to pick between. That said, GPUs also tend to be the most expensive pieces of hardware that go into a desktop, especially if you're trying to aim for something in the mid-to-high-end range that can easily reach $500 or even $1,000. That's why we've gone out and collected some of our favorite early Black Friday GPU deals for you below.
GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 -- $290 $350 17% off

This RTX 3060 is a great starter card for those who want to be on a budget and will handle most slightly older games pretty well at 1080p and 60Hz, potentially up to 100. It may struggle a bit with newer titles without compromises, but that's fine given the reduced $290 price point.

Read more
Nvidia just scaled down DLSS 3, and that’s a good thing
The RTX 4080 Super graphics card sitting on a pink background.

Nvidia's signature tech, DLSS 3, just got yet another update -- and although it's subtle, it actually seems like a good thing for some of the best graphics cards. The latest version, 3.8.10, bundled with the GeForce 566.14 driver, doesn't seem to introduce any major changes, but Nvidia enthusiasts noticed that it's about half the size that it used to be. Where's that difference coming from?

No, Nvidia didn't downgrade DLSS 3 -- at least not in any major way. Although this hasn't been confirmed by Nvidia itself, it appears that the company removed a whole bunch of DLSS presets and replaced them with just two. These presets make it easier for gamers to choose the type of focus they want to apply to each game.

Read more