Olympics

Rocky Anderson’s potential lawsuit around domestic spying during 2002 Olympics

August 14, 2015

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has plans to inform the FBI, National Security Agency and Department of Justice that he will sue them if the agencies don’t respond to claims of privacy violations connected to an alleged dragnet surveillance program during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The program allegedly monitored texts, emails and phone data. What are the chances that Anderson’s domestic spying case may move forward? Law professor Wayne McCormack can offer commentary on the merits of Anderson’s potential lawsuit. The suit, says McCormack, “would have some chance of success because the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had not yet been interpreted to allow bulk record gather by NSA at the time.” He noted that defenses would include “good faith immunity,” “state secrets” and “emergency national security interests.” The case could make for some interesting arguments over who knew what and when, says McCormack. He is available for interviews on the subject.
Phone: 801-581-8494 | Email: wayne.mccormack@law.utah.edu