A privacy watchdog group on Thursday announced that it will file a petition asking the Supreme Court to vacate the ruling that allows the National Security Agency to gather domestic surveillance data.<\/p>\n
\n At a Restore the Fourth rally in Washington, D.C. on Thursday,
\n the Domestic Surveillance Project division of the Electronic
\n Privacy Information Center (EPIC) announced plans to once again
\n urge the high court to revoke authorization of the NSA spy
\n programs. The rally was one of many public events held in
\n the US to protest the NSA surveillance programs first leaked by
\n whistleblower Edward Snowden last month.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe believe that the NSA\u2019s collection of domestic
\n communications contravenes the First and Fourth Amendments to the
\n United States Constitution, and violates several federal privacy
\n laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974, and the Foreign
\n Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 as amended<\/i>,\u201d the
\n petition reads.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe ask the NSA to immediately suspend collection of solely
\n domestic communications pending the competition of a public
\n rulemaking as required by law. We intend to renew our request
\n each week until we receive your response<\/i>,\u201d the petition
\n continues.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nearly 2,000 US residents have signed the EPIC petition, which is
\n addressed to NSA Director General Keith B. Alexander and Defense
\n Secretary Chuck Hagel. A previous petition filed on June 17
\n received no response from the government.\n<\/p>\n
\n As the privacy group announced its plans, crowds across the US
\n gathered on the July 4 holiday to protest the NSA surveillance
\n programs. More than 400 people gathered at Restore the Fourth
\n events in New York and Washington, and about 300 gathered in San
\n Francisco. Americans gathered in about 100 other cities, holding
\n signs and chanting in opposition of domestic spying. Organizers
\n of the rallies told Reuters that about 10,000 people were
\n expected to rally for their cause on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHappy Fourth of July! Immediately stop your unconstitutional
\n spying on the world\u2019s Internet users \u2014 The People<\/i>,\u201d read a
\n statement on the Restore the Fourth website.\n<\/p>\n
\n The NSA\u2019s programs have also sparked outrage and generated
\n lawsuits and petitions from a number of other Americans and
\n privacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union. The
\n ACLU\u2019s lawsuit differs from EPIC\u2019s petition by claiming that the
\n agency\u2019s programs violate the First Amendment, with no mention of
\n the Fourth Amendment.\n<\/p>\n
\n But with multiple documents filed against the agency and EPIC
\n pledging to file new documents every week, it may become more
\n difficult for the NSA to ignore the complaints.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEPIC truly believes that this Foreign Intelligence
\n Surveillance Court exceeded its authority, is not acting in
\n accordance with the law and needs to be overturned \u2013 and cannot
\n be allowed to continue conducting this surveillance<\/i>,\u201d Amie
\n Stepanovich, director of EPIC\u2019s Domestic Surveillance Project,
\n told ThinkProgress.\n<\/p>\n
\n The privacy group plans to file its petition on Monday.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n