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White House To Propose Ending NSA Phone Records Collection
The New York Times reported last night that the White House is planning to introduce a legislative package that would mostly end the NSA's bulk collection of phone records. Instead, phone companies would be required to hand over records up to "two hops" from a target number. Phone companies would be required to retain records for 18 months (already legally mandated) instead of the NSA storing records for five years. It does not appear that secret courts and secret orders from the court would be abolished, however. From the article: "The new type of surveillance court orders envisioned by the administration would require phone companies to swiftly provide records in a technologically compatible data format, including making available, on a continuing basis, data about any new calls placed or received after the order is received, the officials said ... The administration’s proposal would also include a provision clarifying whether Section 215 of the Patriot Act, due to expire next year unless Congress reauthorizes it, may in the future be legitimately interpreted as allowing bulk data collection of telephone data. ... The proposal would not, however, affect other forms of bulk collection under the same provision."
This "call" no doubt falls into the same category of the Patriot Act Obama railed against as a Senator but has since expanded.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
The New York Times reported last night that the White House is planning to introduce a legislative package that would mostly end the NSA's bulk collection of phone records.
They have no intention of ending it, they just are forcing others to do it for them. Basically instead of you and I paying for the NSA to spy on us with tax dollars were going to pay the NSA to spy on us with our phone bills instead. Just because they privatize the burden of data collection doesn't mean they are ending anything.
Instead, phone companies would be required to hand over records up to "two hops" from a target number.
What this means in practice is that if you and I both call FedEx that is considered a "hop" and now our numbers are linked. They essentially can use any commonly called number to get to anyone else and you can cover a HUGE percentage of the population with a few common phone numbers. This is a "limitation" that really isn't a limitation.
I was in the US embassy a while ago to pick up a work visa.
There was a quote from one of the founding fathers, John Adams;
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."
There is nothing safe about the Government having this power *because* it is the Government.
So, this new proposal changes where the records are stored, and not much else? The NSA can still get anything it wants with a warrant from a secret court, but now they won't have to go to the trouble of gathering the data directly.
Plus there's the bit where this new proposal would codify the legality of what the NSA has been doing (and will continue to do).
So about the only real functional change will be that the phone companies will be required to do the work for the NSA, plus the NSA will get a pass from the courts on the legality of the whole business, once it's declared legal by Congress.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
This proposal will get a lot of publicity.
The "rejected" vote will come after the next elections and will be played down by the media...
No sig today...
Why all the focus on some archaic form of communication that's more a historical curiosity a few old people cling to than a relevant tool? I guess politicians are such old people? It'd be more interesting if they proposed a law to end bulk collection of Internet traffic.
These people -- the NSA, the House and Senate Intelligence Panels, and the President himself -- have LIED to the American people and our supposed allies at every possible turn during this process. They would have never even admitted these programs existed at all -- it was only Snowden's actions that forced their hands. Why the hell would anyone ever believe them now? We're to believe they're going to simply stop doing this? Without any real oversight or transparency? The sad thing is that most of my countrymen are stupid or apathetic enough (or both) to believe them.
Considering most people use smart phones these days "phone records collection" I am sure can mean a lot of things. Not just who you call, but what is on your phone as well I reckon.
I rarely use mine for phone calls.
This begs the quesion......if Snowden hadn't released this info, would this "change" be taking place? I wish I could say that this was an admission from the White House that what he did was right, but we know that's not the truth.
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
Well, I hate the NSA... but you're wrong there. I work for a telco and am involved in Billing software. There's plenty of reason to keep data around for a while. Disputes, bankruptcies, etc... not everyone pays their bill every month you know. But keep in mind, the only records we keep on call data are calls that cost the customer or the company money. So collect calls... long distance... etc... Keep data on local calls? Yea right... that's not even possible given that most switches are leftover from the 70s and quite literally have proprietary 20 megabyte drives (not kidding at all) If we had them log all calls, all day, they'd fill up in minutes.
We get around the limits by having scrips log in and dump the data daily to a database. To collect everything would be insane... we'd be scraping the switch every 5min and they are NOT fast. To do what they are proposing we'd have to convert every small town switch to a newer "soft-switch" and that would be a very expensive, very complicated project that would involve hundreds of people. We'd need government grants I'd imagine as it would likely bankrupt most small Telcos. I think that even AT&T would balk at this. I doubt they capture any more data that we do. If this does go through and the feds fund the expansion, it'd improve the countries phone network considerably but it would also increase the NSA's data collection capability several orders of magnitude. They'd have EVERYTHING... not just those calls that generate revenue.
Because everyone, rich or poor, East or West, has wound up waiting on hold with Comcast Customer Service for an hour to get told for the Nth time to reboot their router.
I'm sure the NSA fully plans to adhere to these laws with zero oversight and their own personal secret court they use to fly in the face of democracy. They have such a proven track record in the past of adhering to laws and privacy.
Bullshit. This is absolutely inaccurate & blows your whole premise. Obama is the head of the Executive Branch but that doesn't mean he has absolute Fiat power over all policies
Obama can't just declassify all classified documents or delete a whole organization by "executive order" for example...he can't just *delete* the Air Force from the Defense budget.
Just because Bush started two illegal wars with "executive order" doesn't mean its right or legal!
You think the CIA & NSA are just, you know, totally cool with Obama and Congress trying to reform them?Look at what the CIA/NSA has done historically, just since the 80s. Take it back to the 50s & the CIA might legitamitly be called the **most evil organization of the 20th Centruty***
The CIA is a front for criminal activity. A *very* good one.
Thank you Dave Raggett
While I don't support Obama, Romney would be no different.
Remember, the CIA and the NSA are have a high percentage of Mormons working for them.
I don't think the words, "quotations", "executive orders", "responsible", or "criminals" mean what you think they mean.