A federal district judge ruled that the government did not have to release more records of its spying program including rulings by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the names of cooperating telecom companies. Edward Snowden revealed the existence of the court and details of the spying on domestic phone calls that may be to foreign terrorists., and the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) was seeking more details. The judge wrote that release of the information would provide helpful information to terrorists in evading detection. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 12, 2014, by Bob Egelko)
The judge did rule that the National Security Agency had to disclose the Census memo requested by EFF, that gave legal advice from the Justice Department to the Commerce Department about the disclosure provisions in the Patriot Act and prohibitions on disclosure in the Census Act. (RT, August 12, 2014)