America: Here's when the NSA can, and cannot, snoop on you

The newest Edward Snowden leak lays out the rules for foreign surveillance, as well as how American communications are treated

Protesters rallying the name of privacy outside the Capital on June 14.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Thursday, The Guardian and The Washington Post laid out the latest cards dealt to them by NSA leaker Edward Snowden. And this hand seems particularly useful. The two main documents (read below) spell out in detail the rules the National Security Agency must adhere to when eavesdropping on foreigners "reasonably believed" to be outside of the U.S., and how NSA analysts deal with the data of Americans inadvertently swept up while targeting foreign communications.

The documents cover NSA surveillance under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. The Guardian and Washington Post's analyses of the documents focus on the "wide range of circumstances" under which NSA analysts can retain, process, and disseminate data incidentally collected from Americans, and the broad discretion the analysts appear to have to determine which data is eligible for retention.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.