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NSA Surveillance Reform Bill Passes House 303 Votes To 121

Posted by samzenpus on from the better-than-nothing dept.

First time accepted submitter strangeintp (892348) writes "The first legislation aimed specifically at curbing US surveillance abuses revealed by Edward Snowden passed the House of Representatives on Thursday, with a majority of both Republicans and Democrats. But last-minute efforts by intelligence community loyalists to weaken key language in the USA Freedom Act led to a larger-than-expected rebellion by members of Congress, with the measure passing by 303 votes to 121. The bill's authors concede it was watered down significantly in recent days but insist it will still outlaw the practice of bulk collection of US telephone metadata by the NSA first revealed by Snowden."

10 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Slow clap by scuzzlebutt · · Score: 5, Funny

    *clap* *clap* *clap*

    --
    In C++, your friends can see your privates.
    1. Re:Slow clap by scuzzlebutt · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's the slow clap. It's sarcastic applause.

      --
      In C++, your friends can see your privates.
    2. Re: Slow clap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Dude, the fucking sponsor was among the nays. It wasn't "watered down": it was castrated and then turned into a pro-NSA bill that continues the status quo and adds more time in for parts of the PATRIOT act. We should find out who did that to this bill and piblicize their names with infamy from now until the next election.

  2. Speak Truth to Power by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    last-minute efforts by intelligence community loyalists to weaken key language in the USA Freedom Act

    Instead of the NewSpeak "intelligence community loyalists" how about we call them what they really are: Enemies of the People.

    1. Re:Speak Truth to Power by bmo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The intelligence community isn't doing this in bad faith.

      Ho ho. If it wasn't in bad faith, why has Keith Alexander been lying through his teeth all this time?

      Not everyone is your enemy just because you disagree on how to accomplish a goal.

      When you're treated as the enemy as the American people have been by the intelligence community, what else would you expect the reaction to be? Rainbows and unicorns?

      Sorry, but doubling down on Total Information Awareness in secret after it had been shouted down publicly and repeatedly is a sign of a rogue agency out for its own interests.

      --
      BMO

  3. Re:A step in the right direction by ilikenwf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They aren't, this is all for appearance sake for elections, so that they can say "I voted in favor of privacy reform to protect you" in their political ads, while having done nothing in reality. It is BS.

  4. Distraction by EMG+at+MU · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everybody wins here, a bunch of people get to say they did something in the fight against the NSA. The Executive branch and those in the house who support invasive domestic spying get to keep the majority of their surveillance programs, and most importantly there isn't much more meaningful oversight so who actually knows if the NSA is following the rules. The Executive still gets to hide themselves behind national security letters, "state secrets", and special secret courts.

    However I do not feel like this caused any meaningful change. Hopefully the nation remains outraged at the NSA and this is just the first step in fixing our domestic spying programs, but I feel like we get a few meaningless bills passed and then this issue goes away until the next Snowden.

  5. The bill sucks. Trust Amash on this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Justin Amash voted against his own bill. In an article for "the Hill" (http://thehill.com/policy/technology/206929-house-votes-to-limit-nsa-spying) he is quoted as saying:

    “This morning's bill maintains and codifies a large-scale, unconstitutional domestic spying program,” he wrote in a post on Facebook.

    Changes to the language, for instance, would allow the government to obtain data about a broad section of phone records such as "area code 616" or "phone calls made east of the Mississippi."

    “The bill green-lights the government's massive data collection activities that sweep up Americans' records in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” he added.

    Seems that what was actually passed should actually be called the "Placate the Plebs while Continuing to Screw Them Act of 2014"

  6. Worse than nothing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The bill basically says that metadata and data should not get collected without a warrant except when one thinks one has a reason. What kind of reason would count as an exception is not actually specified.

    So while the previous practice was clearly illegal, this bill makes everything legal since it only applies the "but only if you think this a good idea" metric and clearly everybody already thought it was a good idea to spy on everyone without warrant.

  7. BFDâ¦. by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Big Fucking Deal, it passes.

    From what I've heard of what passed, not only does it NOT have any teeth to it, but it is written so broadly that with secret judges giving secret interpretations (even the secret judges don't consult with each other I"m led to believe), this could likely give the NSA and other TLA agencies *more* leeway to get creative in the work of crushing the US citizens' rights.

    C'mon folks, no matter who is currently in office, D or R, please this time around vote for anyone other than the incumbent, and let's sweep the house and senate clean over the next couple years and start from scratch.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........