NSA Opponents Want To Cut Off Utah Facility From Water Supply

A group of activists plan to try and stop the agency's massive data center in Utah by cutting off its water supply

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A group of activists in Utah think they’ve found the ultimate weakness of a massive new data center the National Security Agency is building in Utah: water.

While the facility will feature state of the art technology and security measures, at the end of the day, like any other building, the data center will rely on local utilities, and local opponents want to cut it off from the grid. Advocacy groups, which have formed the OffNow coalition, are pushing for state legislation that would cut off utilities to the NSA’s new data center being built in Bluffdale, Utah. The argues that the NSA’s electronic snooping violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unwarranted searches and seizures, and proposed state legislation known as the 4th Amendment Protection Act would prevent the local government from supporting the building with local utilities.

“In short, they can turn the water off,” the group says on its website, noting the data center would use 1.7 million gallons of water ever day

The effort is sure to be stymied by federal authorities, but it’s the latest example in states’ rights activists toying with the idea of “nullification” of federal laws. The group is also making its case in a YouTube video advocating for the nullification of some federal laws: