Is the NSA Metadata Program Legal?

One of the most interesting aspects of the NSA metadata program is whether it is legal or not. Unlike the questions we usually think about in computer science, this question has no definitive answer. The program is legal in some sense, but the logic needed for the argument to go through is so questionable that you could just as well say that it's not. Recall that the program requires telephone providers to hand to the NSA (each day) the metadata of every US-to-foreign, foreign-to-US and US-to-US call.

Restructuring the NSA Metadata Program

I just got back from Barbados where I attended the Financial Cryptography and Data Security conference. It was a great event overall with many interesting talks and two great workshops. One workshop was on Bitcoin and was the most successful Financial Crypto workshop in history! Though I haven't personally worked on Bitcoin, one of the things I enjoyed most about the conference and workshops was the presence of the Bitcoin community.