Why No Executive Order To Stop NSA Metadata Collection?

Posted by timothy on Sunday April 6, 2014 @08:00AM from the if-the-president-does-it-it's-legal dept.

An anonymous reader links to this editorial at Ars Technica which argues that "As chief executive, Obama has the power to reform the NSA on his own with the stroke of a pen. By not putting this initiative into an executive order, he punted to Congress on an issue that affects the civil liberties of most anybody who picks up a phone. Every day Congress waits on the issue is another day Americans' calling records are being collected by the government without suspicion that any crime was committed. 'He does not need congressional approval for this,' said Mark Jaycoxx, an Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney."

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Re:So in 2007 Obama... by phantomfive · 2014-04-06 08:31 · Score: 5, Informative

He voted for telecom immunity in 2007. If anyone thought he was against spying when you voted for him, it's because they weren't paying attention (or maybe because they were deceiving themselves?)

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"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."