Wendy McElroy: Due process versus secret courts

  Due process is a set of legal requirements that protect the individual against abuse by the state. Examples are a person’s right to be notified of court proceedings in which he is involved and the right against self-incrimination. Due process is woven into the fabric of American society through both the Constitution and legal precedent.

  Few practices are as damaging to due process as secret courts and secret law. From the abuses of the Spanish Inquisition to the English Star Chamber, historians have detailed how individual rights decline as state secrecy rises. This relationship can be explained in various ways. One of them is with reference to knowledge and power.

Cameron Smith: Government data grab: Privacy and the PRISM

  Last week The Guardian released a classified order from the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requiring Verizon to hand over a massive amount of information about their phone customers. According to Senator Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), the PRISM program used to sweep up massive amounts of information has been in operation since 2007.

  Subsequently The Washington Post released a classified slide show about the PRISM program which identified major participant companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.