Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act

miladus writes "PCWorld is running a story about the latest effort by the Senate to oversee the FBI's use of anti-terrorist laws and 'excessive secrecy'. Senator P. Leahy (D-Vermont) along with C. Grassley (R-Iowa) and A. Specter (R-PA) are proposing the Domestic Surveillance Oversight Act (pdf file) which will require the FBI and the Department of Justice to tell 'how often they spy on American citizens under powers granted by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Act (FISA) and expanded in the Patriot Act of 2001'. The senators released a report charging the FBI and the DOJ of 'excessive secrecy' and of 'inadequate training with respect to the FISA provision' concerning the balance between privacy and security.
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Comments

What scares me

[Anonymous Coward]

As a non-American, I am more worried about all the powers the various U.S. authorities have to spy (and arrest and kill...) non-American people. Especially when the XX government seems to take the same attitude towards non-XX people, and the "secret" agnecies of U.S. and XX can make underhand agreements to do each others dirty work.

Once upon a time the government was there to protect its citizens from attacks from other governments - today we ("the people") need protection from the government, and of other governments, and of the government "protecting" us from other governments...

Every journey begins with a single step

[Tyriel]

Guys, i think what we need to realize here is that this is PROGRESS, no matter how you might feel about the patriot act. This applies to acts passed many years before Sept. 11, and keeps ol' Johnny A a little more honest. We need all the help we can get in that regard, and this is help. Those who advocate for radical change all at once are shooting themselves in the foot. Progress happens incrementally.