In NYT, Atlantic Columns, Alumna Jennifer Granick Assails NSA Surveillance as Illegal

New College alumna Jennifer Granick has received international attention as the co-author of two prominent op-ed columns, in The New York Times and The Atlantic magazine website, arguing that the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance of phone calls, emails and other online communications is illegal.
Granick is director of civil liberties at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. She wrote the columns with colleague Christopher Sprigman, a professor at University of Virginia’s law school and a fellow at the Stanford center.
In the New York Times column, they write that the two federal laws that the Obama Administration cites as justifying the surveillance do not actually authorize what the NSA has done.
“Through a series of legal contortions, the Obama administration has argued that Congress, since 9/11, intended to implicitly authorize mass surveillance,” they write. “But this strategy consists of wordplay, fear-mongering and a highly selective reading of the law. Americans deserve better from the White House – and from President Obama, who has seemingly forgotten the constitutional law he once taught.”
In the Atlantic column, they write that although the unrestricted spying on foreigners is legal under U.S. law, it is unwise. Foreign governments are rushing to place restrictions on how data is transmitted and stored, and that will hurt U.S. internet companies; it also will restrict free expression, which has helped the democracy movements worldwide, they write.
The New York Times column appeared online on June 27; the Atlantic column appeared June 28.
In her blog, Granick explained why she and Sprigman took on the issue of the NSA surveillance programs:
“I am hoping that an op-ed in the Times making clear that even the Obama Admin. is breaking the law will not only cause some people to wonder whether mass surveillance is a good idea, but will also illustrate how incredibly important this public conversation Edward Snowden sparked about government surveillance is.”
Granick studied political science at New College and graduated in 1990. She previously served as civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From 2001 to 2007 she was executive director of Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society and taught cyberlaw, computer crime law, Internet intermediary liability and Internet law and policy at Stanford’s law school. Before teaching at Stanford, she practiced criminal defense law in California for nearly a decade.