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ACLU and EFF Endorse Weaker USA Freedom Act Passed By Committee

Posted by samzenpus on from the dialing-it-back dept.

First time accepted submitter sumakor (3571543) writes "The House Judiciary Committee has advanced a weakened version of the USA Freedom Act (HR3361). The amended compromise version allows collection of phone call records up to two hops away from a target, potentially including millions of customer records, and allows for collection without a judge's order in emergency cases. The amended bill also drops the requirement for a privacy advocate who can appeal the rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and extends the controversial Section 215 of the Patriot Act from 2015 through 2017.

Despite these significant changes the amended bill has been endorsed by the ACLU and the EFF as a first step and the most promising path towards reigning in government surveillance. The two organizations called for further Congressional measures to tighten control of surveillance authorities including an explicit definition of the term 'selector,' a reduction in the number of hops from 2 to 1 under most circumstances and the closing the loophole that allows searches of Americans' data inadvertently collected thru Section 702.

The bill now proceeds to the House Intelligence Committee, who has advanced its competing bill, the FISA Transparency and Modernization Act (HR 4291). The committee will mark up both bills on the same day, beginning at 10am Thursday, behind closed doors."

11 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Two things... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Informative

    1) This bill basically changes nothing - they can do whatever they want by declaring an "emergency", and there is no effective oversight.

    2) "Reining in", NOT "reigning in". The expression refers to slowing horses down, not kings at home.

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    1. Re:Two things... by Andrewkov · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We are in a constant state of emergency due to the war on terror.

    2. Re:Two things... by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The whole "emergency" thing is just an excuse that exploits the widespread belief that the CIA/NSA frequently face scenarios where the clock is ticking and Jack Bauer/James Bond MUST get someone's phone data RIGHT NOW or PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE IN 20 MINUTES!!!! The fact that such scenarios almost never occur in real life is irrelevant, since the public doesn't know that.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    3. Re:Two things... by GargamelSpaceman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Bill is a joke

      Yeah, even though the bill doesn't seem to grant more power to the government than it has already grabbed for itself, having a law around what was illegally done, legitimizes it after the fact, and puts the onus to create new law forbidding the abuses on those who would end them.
      and so are the groups that endorse it

      Except that the bill at least defines what can and can not be done. The status quo is no definition which means it's free to slide anywhere, by not being prosecuted crimes become norms.

      One of the biggest things they should hash out in the courts IMHO is the idea that copying data to a hard drive and not having humans look at it is somehow not unreasonable search. A machine you operate needs to be considered your agent, as machines will only get more intelligent. Indexing is understanding and machines do this. If your agents understand the information gleaned, then the information has been effectively searched. To obtain a copy of information your machine agents have had to handle every bit of the information and save it. Having a copy is the most basic version of understanding information. It equals search. Indexing just compounds the crime.

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      ...
  2. "Freedom Act" by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Holy hell look at that name...this bill must be full of draconian nightmare laws!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:"Freedom Act" by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've always said that when the bill to re-institute slavery comes, it will be called the "Full Employment and Housing for Minorities Act."

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:"Freedom Act" by Hillgiant · · Score: 4, Funny

      Finally a jobs bill that republicans can get behind.

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      -
    3. Re:"Freedom Act" by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      Slavery? Are you fucking nuts? You have to house and feed slaves, did you look recently at the housing cost in most areas? Wages are way cheaper!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Doesn't do a thing really by jonwil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only way to stop this mess is to completly outlaw ANY logging or surveillance by ANY agency (FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA, Homeland Security or whoever else) or by ANY private company on behalf of the government except where the surveillance or logging is being done on a specific identifiable entity (e.g. a Facebook account or a Google account or an ISP account or a cellphone number/account or whatever) AND a judge has granted a warrant.

    Even the worst possible hypothetical attack (e.g. a terrorist with a nuclear bomb powerful enough to turn the entire eastern seaboard into a smoking crater) is not bad enough to justify any kind of monitoring, surveillance or logging of the communications of people who have not been classified as a threat by an independent judge.

  4. The oversight doesn't care by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    since neither Congress nor the President has any real oversight of the CIA or NSA

    I think the President has a very good idea what the NSA is up to since the reports they generate ultimately come to him and his direct reports. I'm pretty sure the Congressional leadership also has a fairly good idea what is going on. However I do not think their interests align with those of the citizenry and so they have little to no incentive to exercise what you or I would consider proper oversight. They benefit from the violation of our civil rights.

  5. Dear Congress, by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unless you provide criminal penalties for those who would break this law, don't bother. You know what I mean - you do this for *every* other prohibitive law which doesn't target government, but always seem to forget that part when you're trying to reign in government.

    While you're at it, make a breach of this law also be a civil cause of action.

    Seriously.

    Otherwise, don't bother. If there's no penalties for breaking this law, it'll be ignored like all the rest of them.

    --
    Do you have ESP?