© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Source: Signing Away Your Right To Trial | Privacy Board Calls For End Of NSA Surveillance

National Security Agency

In the first segment:

Signing up for a credit card or car loan can mean signing away your right to a civil trial if you get taken advantage of. Forced arbitration clauses are being lambasted by consumer rights groups and we will talk to two groups about their opposition to what the industry argues are efficient tools for resolving disputes.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has begun studying the effects of forced arbitration, releasing the first of their reportslast month. Among other things it showed that the fine-printed agreements were written at a far higher complexity than the rest of these contracts.

We talk with Sara Smith from the Public Interest Research Group and Christine Hines from Public Citizen.

The CFPB recently had a field hearing in Dallas with many stakeholders:

  • Read the transcript here

In the second segment:

Credit Pew Research Center
140123-source-nsa-pcob.mp3

Today the Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board, an independent federal board, called the mass collection of data by the NSA "illegal" and called for it to stop.

“lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value,” the report said. “As a result, the board recommends that the government end the program.”

This comes less than a week after President Barack Obama’s big surveillance reform speech that left most people unhappy. A pew poll shows little impact on the public. 

What could the findings of the independent board mean for the future of data mass collection? 

We talk with Harley Geiger, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Project on Freedom, Security and Surveillance. Also with us is David Greene, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

*The Source airs at 3 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM - audio from this show will be posted by 5:30 p.m.

Stay Connected
Paul Flahive can be reached at Paul@tpr.org