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The article looks at the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which defines the procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance. Topics discussed include the laws that allows the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct surveillance of calls; establishment of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for reviewing and approving surveillance; and role of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) in handling appeals from the FISC.

The author looks at laws related to the government policies related to surveillance of electronic data and communication and discusses challenges related to security of the data raised due to technological transformation. Topics discussed include impact of the technology on the legislative framework; use of data encryption for protection of the data, and law governing the U.S. National Security Agency's surveillance authority of data in the country.

The author reflects on journalists' and media coverage of telephone and email surveillance conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) since 2000. He states that the NSA program of collecting the telephone call records and online activity of Americans in order to prevent terrorism has been in news reports prior to the most recent reports from the "Washington Post" and "The Guardian" in June 2013. In addition, he notes that all such programs have been done so lawfully.

The article discusses the implementation and legalization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the U.S. President George W. Bush administration. Proponents of the program explained that it is needed to fight terrorism. However, reporters fear that it may affect their ability to interview international sources. The Congress in 1978 allowed only foreign intelligence-gathering to justify listening in but the Bush administration widened the policy's scope and authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens who communicate with alleged foreign terrorists even without warrants.

The article reports that the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has approved USA Freedom Act, a legislative bill intended to end the mass collection of U.S. telephone records by the National Security Agency. Among the provisions of the bill include one that would ban the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies from accessing encrypted communications on smartphones and another that would create a panel of experts to advice judges about privacy and civil liberties.

The article focuses on the need for greater compromise between technology firms and government intelligence agencies in 2014. Topics include the 'crypto wars' between Internet privacy activists and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the use of encryption in computer software, and efforts to prevent digital surveillance by software security companies.

The author discusses the use of cryptography to manage electronic investigations. Topics include the role of the National Security Agency (NSA) as a law enforcement agency due to its distribution of collected U.S. bulk surveillance data to law enforcement agencies, the need for democratic policies in the collection and use of surveillance data, and the use of cryptography to allow agencies to extract warrant-authorized data while protecting the privacy of others not under investigation.

The article focuses on the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance reforms proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama. Topics include the implication of the reform to privacy and national security, the reaction of maker of Mozilla Firefox browser, and comment of legal director Cindy Cohn of privacy group Electronics Frontier Foundation.

The article examines a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon that the electronic surveillance and collection of telephony metadata by the National Security Agency (NSA) is unconstitutional. Leon's finding that the U.S. could not cite a single occasion where metadata analysis prevented terrorist attacks is discussed. Possible recommendations on surveillance by an advisory commission to President Barack Obama are considered.

The article looks at U.S. government surveillance of citizens, focusing on legislators' efforts in 2013 to cut back legislation allowing for surveillance. Topics include the 2001 U.S. Patriot Act, whistleblower Edward Snowden's 2013 leak of information related to the PRISM surveillance program of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), and some Republican lawmakers' concerns about surveillance infringing on civil liberties.

The article reports that the U.S. Congress House has defeated an amendment to a defense spending bill that would have prohibited the National Security Agency (NSA) from the collection of phone records from U.S. carriers and cut off funding for the phone records collection program as currently designed. It mentions that digital rights groups have said the close vote gives them hope of weakening support for the NSA programs in Congress.