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Cyber Security Enhancement Act Passes Senate
XorNand writes "The Cyber Security Enhancement Act (which was attached to the Homeland Security Act) was overwelming approved by the U.S. Senate today. According the EFF this soon-to-be-law allows "any government entity (federal, state, or local) to request email and voicemail from your ISP or telephone provider without a warrant or probable cause." The passage of the Homeland Security Bill is covered here on CNN.com. Yippee."
We should fight back and use more cryptography. Even if it is somewhat weak, they can't decrypt ALL the encrypted e-mails going over the net, can they? :]
There are two main things I find troubling about this: "ANY government entity" and "without a warrant or probable cause"
Think about the potential for abuse and misuse when it's put in that scope. The idea of just allowing an agency like the FBI the power to do this is daunting enough. But now were giving this power to regular cops.
This is insane. More email is delivered than first class mail in the US today. The interception of first class mail requires a federal warrant. How did this bill pass, in it's current state, with a 90-0 vote?!
This is exact the reason I gave up being a SQL DBA and went back to school to get a law degree.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
The sort of privacy rollbacks we're seeing have been hotly desired by certain groups for years. They probably already had their ideal statutes written up, ready for a quick edit in the wordprocessor. So it is more accurate to view this sort of legislation not as a kneejerk reaction but as a kneejerk opportunity for a long-simmering reaction. Many are exploiting the country's disarray to advance their law-and-order agendas, without even a pretense of any real advance in defending the nation against terrorism.
:).
As for the near-unanimous Senate vote, you can imagine the fear of those who had qualms -- in the next election they'd have someone shaking a finger at them, accusing them of undermined the nation's security. It would be ludicrous if only it didn't work. Amazing how much political mileage a few bastards with boxcutters can provide.
Encrpyt now! And when the FBI drops by to interview you (the ones I've met have been unfailingly polite), give them the number of a lawyer (it doesn't have to be *your* lawyer
Seriously, the privacy issue demands active engagement by U.S. citizens (non-condescending foreigners are welcome to weigh in, too). Pick your favorite advocacy group as your antenna and tune in, this ain't over yet.
That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.
This is the hole I put my faith in
What about the information?
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
Ever heard of the Kennedy family?.... Take this bill that just passed 90-0. The Democrats voted for it too.
Many Democrats did vote for it. However, the vote was 90 to 9. Among those voting against was Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
President Bush is not mentally capable of being a leader of a country. He only participates in selling parts of the government to the highest bidder. As Senator John McCain says, the U.S. government has been corrupted by money disguised as campaign contributions.
This is not meant to be excessively negative about George W. Bush. There are many people who are not mentally capable of being a leader of a country.
George Bush's performance is typical for someone who has been an alcoholic: 1) Many alcoholics are extemely likeable. 2) Alcoholics don't like conflict; they resolve conflict in crude ways. 3) Alcoholics don't like to be expected to think.
President Bush delivers the statements that are written for him. Have you noticed that the coherence of his statements has improved now that he has a staff of more than 5,000 in the White House? He didn't suddenly develop ways of thinking more clearly.
The U.S. is experiencing a social breakdown. Few good leaders are available. For example, President Clinton was the child of two alcoholics. His crude adjustment to sexuality is typical for a child of alcoholics. It must be said, however, that President Clinton was mentally capable of understanding the issues of running a government, and he also had spent many years teaching himself government policy.
Other aspects of the social breakdown in the United States are: 1) The U.S. has the highest percentage of obese people in the world. People in the U.S. eat when they are not hungry, a sign of unhappiness and social disfunctionality. 2) The U.S. has the highest percentage of its citizens in prison of any country in the history of the world. European countries have one-sixth the percentage of their citizens in prison. 3) The U.S. government lacks social skills. The government's answer to conflict is often violence. The U.S. government has bombed 14 countries in 33 years, killing more than 3,000,000 people directly. The number killed indirectly is credibly estimated to be more than 3,000,000 additional people. 4) The U.S. government has at least two world-wide police forces that are authorized to kill anyone anywhere -- the FBI and the CIA. This also shows poor social skills. 5) The U.S. government is the biggest manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. government is also the government that talks most about using its weapons.
does anyone else find the fact that "Fritz" Hollings voted against this bill kind of ironic given is track record so far?
:P
I would have figured that he would've loved to have more power to chase after pirates, especially in the name of "Homeland Defence"
Oh well, I guess he just didn't get his asking price this time round.
I'm sorry, but I really find it concerning that someone so vocal in his support of other laws that are just as draconian, would then turn around and vote against this one. It just doesn't seem to add up.
Once this step works, then outgoing emails could search for a public keys of recients, and if possible encrypt before sending. This would incrementally move the encryption closer to the sender, as adoption permitted.
I suggest using this along with features for verification of the sender as an anti-spam feature, to enhance adoption of the new protocols. An incremental approach is the only feasable one, IMHO.
--Mike--
September 11th -- Bush's Reichstag fire. An attack on a national symbol that prompts the single-party control of the government, followed by the strengthening of the executive portion of the government and the establishment of unrestricted government powers. Sound familiar? Yup, same as the rise of the Third Reich. And Bush doesn't even need to dissolve the legislative branch as the Nazi party did, because his party managed to just seize control of it.
/me is very frusterated, but doesn't see any remedy...
I'm not even going to mention the fact that he's using national upset over a terrorist act against a national symbol to fuel lust for a totally fucking unrelated foreign war (Iraq). Same as Hitler.
Of course, the people being detained and having their civil rights as regards imprisonment ignored so far are Islamic, rather than Jewish. But it also took Hitler a while while in unopposed control of the government to gain complete control over the country.
If Islamic people start getting deported, then I'm going to start worrying. (And it's not like we haven't put a race in camps before -- we grabbed Japanese-Americans out of their homes and dumped them in big guarded, barbed-wire-fence-surrounded camps during WWII.) We hover a lot closer to serious nastiness than most people would like to admit.
I mean, for chrissake, we've a father and a son on the "throne" of the Presidency at the minute! Who buys into the "meritocracy" claims any more?
And we just established a massive domestic monitoring organization specifically built to bypass the restrictions placed on the FBI after decades of abuse of powers. Of course, this one can grab wiretaps w/o needing warrants, has the powers of the CIA, FBI, and INS, and is extremely well-funded.
Don't be so glad you don't live in the United States of America. France, Poland, and friends felt the brunt of radical German political changes as much as Germany. You get a shift towards a empire-building dictatorship (except this time bigger, with nukes and the most powerful military in the world) and you can be damn sure that it will impact you.
May we never see th
Perhaps. Perhaps not. The Republicans hold an incredibly small control over the US Senate. If any supreme court justices do resign in the next 2 years, Bush will be forced to nominate a moderate to the post (More of a Sandra Day Occonor, as opposed to Clarence Thomas).
Why? Because you can only truly control the US Senate with 60 votes. A simple majority won't do. The Democrats (Or indeed, any single senator) can stop and legislation dead in it's tracks with the filibuster.
The only exception has to do with laws concerning revenues. Senate rules allow a simple majority to stop a filibuster w/ laws concerning revenues. But clearly, a Supreme Court confirmation does not meet that test.
- James