An anonymous reader writes: Washington (CNN) — A federal judge said Monday that he believes the government's once-secret collecting of domestic phone records was unconstitutional, setting up likely appeals and further challenges to the data-mining revealed by classified leaker Edward Snowden.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the bulk collection of metadata — phone records of the time and numbers called without any disclosure of content — was an apparent violation of privacy rights.
His preliminary ruling was in favor of four plaintiffs challenging the National Security Agency program, but Leon limited the decision only to their case.
"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval," said Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. "Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the Founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment."
