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House Panel Approves Electronic Surveillance Bill
narramissic writes "A U.S. House of Representatives Committee has approved the Electronic Modernization Surveillance Act, a controversial bill that would broaden the U.S. government's ability to conduct electronic surveillance on U.S. residents by making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to get court-issued warrants. The full House is expected to vote on the bill by the end of the month." From the article: "Republicans praised the bill, saying it will help the U.S. government fight terrorism. The bill will provide the U.S. intelligence agencies 'greater agility and flexibility as they try to thwart our determined and dangerous terrorist enemies,' Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a statement. The full House is expected to vote on the bill by the end of the month. The committee's action comes after U.S. President George Bush called on Congress to approve a controversial electronic surveillance program conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). "
RTFA, it answers your question. Someone can monitor all of your communications (wiretaps of any type) for 90 days without a warrant.
Yes. The FISA court allowed warrents to be secretly handed out retroactively.
FISA allowed for 72-hour wiretaps before a warrant was required.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Remember kids, the warrantless spying and excessive amounts of data would not have helped prevent 9-11. We had the information the whole time, but the agencies don't cooperate between each other. That is it. We don't need any new tools; the old ones worked fine but the 'crats got caught up in paperwork and red tape and infighting. Imagine the data dump that will ensue from this new approval. What a travesty.
I can't speak for this particular bill but there is at least one active bill which attempts to make GWB's actions legal retroactively. Of course it shouldn't work this way and the courts shouldn't allow it, but today just about anything goes.
Developers: We can use your help.
Please do.
"Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
When will people learn that EVERY news outlet, magazine, article, caster, whatever.... Is biased. Dig into the story, and make up your own mind. Spewing the half truths of some article as facts, without due dilligence, is just plain wrong. It's wrong for the news and it's wrong for you.
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
IF and ONLY IF they have determined that you are a viable threat and there is evidence of a pending attack against the US.
I love how this crap gets modded up so much. I think this is a horrible mess and it makes me sick that this crap was even proposed let alone getting support. HOWEVER! You need to RFTA yourself, or stop with your creative editing.
You left out "The Electronic Modernization Surveillance Act, opposed by several privacy groups, would also allow federal law enforcement officials to spy on U.S. residents for up to 90 days without a court order in the period after a terrorist attack."
So yes...bad freaking law...bad freaking stuff...but kneejerk creative editing only serves to further make the privacy folks that realize this is BAD juju for freedom look like paranoid lunatics. We all know that folks like Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan are taken so seriously these days due to their overzealous overreactionary nonsense.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
Namely, that, whenever 9/11 comes up in the American press there is talk of "the 3000 American victims" which is patently untrue: ~2700 came from the US, ~300 were foreign nationals who worked in the twin towers or were passengers on the flights. And I'd like to point out that other nations have kept much, much cooler heads than the US about these victims.
-- Language is a virus from outer space.
Somewhat. But this is a vast expansion.
No. It does, as a minor provision, extend the time limit (there have been characterizations that it extends the current 72-hour limit for foreign intelligence surveillance while seeking a warrant to 90 days—this is false. It extends that limit only to 120 hours (from 3 days to 5 days.) The 90-day limit is something completely different, see below.)
But it does a lot more, including (and this is not an exhaustive list):
It expands the definition of an "agent of a foreign power" to include not only actual agents of foreign powers, but also any person "reasonably expected to transmit or receive foreign intelligence information".
It also narrows the scope of the limitations on government power in FISA: currently, it is unlawful to conduct surveillance except under its rules against any US person who is within the United States. EMSA would make it only illegal if those conducting the surveillance reasonably believe the subject is within the United States. So if they don't believe you are in the United States when they target you, or if that belief is unreasonable, their action is not prohibited by the law any more.
EMSA would also further narrow the scope of the limitations on government surveillance power in FISA by defining "surveillance" that it restricts to only include the acquisition of the content of communications; under current law that is included, but so is the installation or use of an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance device for "monitoring to acquire information" of any kind. As a concrete example of the effect, a camera planted inside a residence or other private area to see what went on and who was present at various times would probably not capture the "content of communication", and would be entirely unregulated under the changes proposed in EMSA, but is restricted under the current law.
It also entirely eliminates (not merely extends the timeline) the rule that, without a court order having been obtained, communications deliberately or incidentally captured of a US person cannot be retained, disseminated, etc., beyond a 72-hour period.
It expands the scope of surveillance that requires no warrant (retroactive or otherwise) to include not only surveillance of communications exclusively between foreign powers (including their agents), but to communication of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, and strikes the limitation that such warrantless surveillance may only be used when "there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party", (and, remember from above, it expands the definition of "agent of a foreign power" to include people who are expected to send or receive foreign intelligence information, whether or not they are in fact agents of foreign powers; as one example of the impact of the effect of these two provisions together, since reporters covering foreign affairs beats can be "reasonably expected" to sometimes receive or send "foreign intelligence information", that means that, under EMSA, any communication of any such reporter with any other person for any purpose can be monitored without any restriction of any kind.)
It expands the ability of the government to order private parties to assist it in performing surveillance: this is curerntly restricted only to communications common carriers, and would be expanded to "any person with authorized access to electronic communications or equipment used to transmit or store electronic communications".
It deletes the requirement that warrant applications for surveillance include "a d
and that is going to help how?
According to some very fascinating reading over at wikipedia, "A government is a body that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws...(6)". Under the "Social Contract Section", "If a majority is unhappy, it may change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession."
I'll come back to that. Meanwhile...
Interestingly, "Authoritarianism often arises from the governing bodies' presumption that they know what is right or wrong for the country and from intolerance of dissent. The government then enforces what it thinks is right, often with use of considerable force and sometimes in blatant violation of human rights. Dissenting voices are ignored, or, more strikingly, are considered to be plotting against the best interests of the country(5). "best interest" Sound familiar? Human rights, Guantánamo (1).
It's in our best interest to make sure this bill passes because we have to "thwart our determined and dangerous terrorist enemies". It's in our best interest "to require ISPs to preserve customer records because "government's lack of access to customer data the biggest obstacle to deterring child porn(2). "We respect civil liberties but... {emphasis mine}" This headline says it all... CCTV Cameras In UK Get Loudspeakers(3)" That's the news from DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED governments, (forget rogue governments) in the last 5 days using only slashdot as a jumping off point! How much more is out there that we didn't get to see on this site?
Let's try to wrap it up. Use Authoritarianism(4) to maintain Social Control(5) to change a Government(6) into a Police State(7). And you want to write a letter to a person who isn't going to read it about an issue which is near and dear to his/her heart (gaining more and more power, the very nature of government) seeking change? Good Yuck(r)
(1) http://web.amnesty.org/pages/guantanamobay-index-e ng 2 31253 6 56258
(2) http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/19/2
(3) http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/17/1
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control
(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_state
p.s. dear government officials, I am NOT a radical and i did not mean to think about my freedoms, rights and responsabilities. That is your responsability and you are doing great job.
--iggy_mon - www.ananonymouskiller.com - Die Trying -
If you ever get the chance watch the documentary "The Goebbels Experiment". It is the narration of excerpts from the diary kept by Paul Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister from the 20's until his death in 1945. It documents the rise of the Nazis first hand from an insider's experience. Cabals of driven individuals, fixed elections, censorship, propaganda, secret surveillance, intimidation of critic, and war for peace are not new concepts. When undermining a Republic use a proven formula that works!
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J