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Senate May Vote On NSA Reform As Soon As Next Week
apexcp writes Senate Majority Leader (for now) Harry Reid announced he will be taking the USA FREEDOM Act to a floor vote in the Senate as early as next week. While the bill, if passed, would be the first significant legislative reform of the NSA since 9/11, many of the act's initial supporters have since disavowed it, claiming that changes to its language mean it won't do enough to curb the abuses of the American surveillance state
The Gas and Oil Party will see to it that it will fail. When they have the majority in both the house and the senate starting next Jan. they will expand the NSA's powers and try to ram it through. If Obama vetoes it the Gas and Oil Party will impeach Obama on stupid shit much like they did to Clinton and then try to remove Obama from office. If the Gas and Oil Party is not dissolved by 2016 mark my words those racist pieces of shit will win the presidency.
The USA FREEDOM Act only limits spying on American citizens. The spying on the rest of the world is not addressed at all.
None of these folks are worried about re-election right now, so they will likely be voting purely on self-interest rather than the interests of their constituency.
It looks like the Republicans will have 54 Senators in 2015, in part, I think, to support given them by libertarians (except perhaps in Virginia where a Libertarian candidate took support from the Republican primarily).
Might this be a move by Democrats to reach out to libertarians who tend to be the strongest opponents of the surveillance of the public by government?
Repeals the Patriot Act and shuts down Homeland Security. How many redundant players do we need to keep us safe?
Not once did a political ad obviously endorse curtailing the government's sweeping surveillance powers.
Candidates from elections are prone to endorse whatever view the polls say their constituents are interested in. I'd say this is a poor harbinger of curtailing the powers of the surveillance state.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Put on a good show for the idiots to pretend like you're doing something, you Corporate-owned assclowns.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Do people think the NSA gives a rat's ass about any laws?
They are simply paying lip service to the issue so as to say that the issue has been looked at and dealt with - undoubtedly whilst working in the background to 'reform', overshadow and hide future legal infractions (aka classifying information for reasons of "national security").
I have not doubt that the nefarious and illegal activities of the NSA will continue, regardless of the outcome of this 'reform'.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
I think the Senate should hold off on this and let the new Senate deal with this. The lame duck Senate is filled with liberal subversives who want to deconstruct the national security infrastructure. The new Senate has more loyal Americans.
Given that the NSA already violates federal law and the constitution daily, I don't think this will do much. It's already being reported that the NSA is holding patents on some of their work and selling them to industry, so they're already poking holes in the only true power congress has over them... their budget. The only person that has any control over them at all is the president, and we've had two in a row now that seem to think an Orwellian state is a great idea, so I'm not hopeful.
Democrats have controlled the Senate for 8 fucking years.
Now they get serious on this?
Where the fuck where they when the Dems controlled the entire government?
Oh, yeah, LYING to us.
Third video emerges of Obamacare architect insulting voters
If you like your plan, you can keep it!
Do you really believe them? The Democrats have literally spent the last 8 years lying to you.
The new political-speak means that the "reform" bill will make the NSA much worse and more oppressive than before. Enjoy your reform, suckers. Keep voting for those parties! It makes a difference - honest!
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Only idiots would believe either republicans or democrats. Vote for either one and you've proven to be a fool.
The Democrat-controlled senate hasn't scheduled any votes for some time now, and even other Democrats have been complaining that senate Dems aren't doing anything, for fear of votes coming back to haunt them in the elections. If it's good policy, why do you have to fear your how your electorate will respond at the polls?
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/200228-house-dems-to-senate-dems-pass-our-bills
Now all of a sudden it's time to get something done? That's what happens when you play politics with public policy. Now we know you were too busy looking out for your own hide and not serving the public. And check out Landrieu all of a sudden being a "driving force" in passing Keystone pipeline in the face of a tight runoff election. This would be hilarious if it wasn't such a sad reflection of the state of the US.
"Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."
What good is a law pertaining to the NSA if they don't follow the laws?
Reform reform REFORM!
That seems to be the favorite word out of Washington. They want to reform everything, but what they really mean is, they can't get away with enough, and they want to change laws so they can scre over the American people in more ways, to an even greator degree.
Lickspittle lackey Reid wants to push this through before the unpredictable Republicans take Senate control. This is a scene that will be repeated several more times before the session ends. Reid knows that, despite any talk to the contrary, long knives in both parties are being honed for his throat.
1) Wait until the other party takes control of both houses
2) Introduce legislation he KNOWS will go nowhere
3) When legislation fails, start the finger pointing game
And folks wonder why fewer and fewer people vote anymore. Same bullshit, slightly different flavor of it is all.
One can hope, the Repub party will pull their head out of their ass and actually get some meaningful legislation done.
They need to impress the hell out of those who still vote if they want any shot at the White House in 2016.
Democrats never wanted to reduce the security state, I'm not sure they ever even promised to do this. The security state is unpopular in a very general way but the status quo represents a very broad, resilient, bipartisan consensus. Everybody is willing to mouth platitudes about privacy and the Constitution, but nobody wants any concrete decisions hung around their neck, least of all the electorate.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
should know: the NSA still knows who you are........
(I like the sound of shivering from the paranoid in the morning.)
nobody wants any concrete decisions hung around their neck, least of all the electorate.
Very insightful. We voters love being able to criticize our representatives' actions, but we loves us some tax cuts, entitlements, and pork.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The act does not mention the NSA anywhere in the bill. The only organization that is mentioned is the FBI, which means really business as usual. The FBI restrictions are non-existent with the fact that we have "fusion" centers that all of the other people can dump data into without any restriction.
USA FREEDOM Act - Title I: FISA Business Records Reforms - (Sec. 101) Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to establish a new process to be followed when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) submits an application to a FISA court for an order requiring the production of tangible things (commonly referred to as business records, including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.
Emphasis mine. Nowhere does the bill mention that the amount of data is going to be reduced or curtailed. Everything being collected illegally today will still be illegally collected even if this bill passes and becomes law. The bill is a waste of time and provides zero reform.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
... the enemy of the good.
Where the fuck where they when the Dems controlled the entire government?
You mean when the Republicans controlled the House and shot down everything with a whiff of liberal about it?
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
The USA FREEDOM Act only limits spying on American citizens. The spying on the rest of the world is not addressed at all.
Actually the USA FREEDOM Act EXPANDS SPYING ON AMERICAN CITIZENS because it renews the Patriot Act.
Repeals the Patriot Act
Nope the USA FREEDOM Act extends the Patriot Act and destroys Liberty.
The USA FREEDOM Act is just an extension of the Patriot Act with some spin doctoring to make it sound like it is a reform bill. It is not "watered down" it is exactly what the Obama administration needs to continue wholesale spying on the American people. Kill the USA FREEDOM Act!!
How would everyone feel if every carton of a dozen eggs at the grocery store only contained 7 eggs? And the grocery store manager said that the farmer was not paying the store, so it was OK to not provide all 12 eggs as written on the carton?
Now, I am the customer of my ISP. They advertize speed tiers, and I choose to pay for one of them. I am paying for that speed grade to access the internet at large. This is an INTERNET Service Provider, after all, not an INSERT_BRANDNAME_HERE Service Provider.
I expect to be provided the speed grade that I pay for, under contract, for anything within my ISP's boundaries. I understand that my destination may pay for a different speed at their end. But I do expect to receive what I pay for on my end.
Some cray situation where everyone at my ISP downloads something very large at the same time might have some impact, but this should be a statistical rarity, with my ISP building enough infrastructure to have a very high statistic of meeting its side of my contract with them. If they cannot, or do not plan to do this, then they should reconsider their advertizing and what speeds they offer.
To make i ta matter of policy to not deliver on their side of our contract is problematic. If they offer in their advertizement a 50Mbit/s speed tier, then they should do their utmost to deliver on that. To artificially degrade that is counter to their advertizement of 50Mbits/s speed that their customer signed up and contracted for. To do that for the reason of "because I said so", just isn't right. I paid for a dozen eggs, yet you feel no expectation to give me more than 7 in this example.
I just don't see how that can continue in the long run. Eventually, more and more people are going to notice some eggs missing, and start wondering why they are paying the price of a full dozen eggs to get that. Once the masses realize the problem, there's going to be a huge outcry and demand for things to be made right as they seek out an honest grocer. I truly wish the dishonest one would be held accountable, but surely they have planned for a fine someday and are making sure that this future business expense is already being passed on to their customers today, yesterday, and the day before that.
I think the Half Fast advertizements going on right now are somewhat ironic...
Sorry, it's not so clear and simple. The 4th amendment protects against government invasion of your person and your residence: here were talking about snooping information that you're transmitting on the publicly-regulated airwaves or over publicly-managed wires and cables. If you open your window and shout a conversation about your sexual exploits to your neighbor, you shouldn't expect any privacy. You volunteered to put it out there in a form that is easy to snoop upon; the fact that you think you have ultimate privacy is not relevant at all.
The issue of whether law enforcement can listen in on your telephone conversations without a warrant has been decided with the Wiretap Act (legislation). There are lots of people that want that law to be extended to apply to cell phone conversations and Internet traffic, but the Supreme Court hasn't defined what the boundaries of your privacy actually are. I'd welcome more legislation that defines a right to privacy over certain wireless and Internet communications beyond what is guaranteed by the Constitution (which really ain't much).
Until their truly is law that defines such a right to privacy, it is your obligation to secure your communications from outside ears.
After years of NOT leading and not bringing bills to vote, and After losing an election.... NOW? Now Senator Reid starts leading like the Senate Majority Leader should have been doing by sending out interesting items for vote....
Democracy in action by the "best-of-the-best" Lucky us to be so gifted by such enlightened leadership
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized"
Even in 1700s, this wording protects your papers if you're carrying them horse and buggy over public roads on public property. Original intent is the key here, not translate it into whatever floats your boat.
Also you should look into "reasonable expectation of privacy."
Sure, but it's always been OK for a police officer to look around and note things down. Mass surveillance is just doing that on a very large scale. The NSA does things analogous to noting that you're traveling with a briefcase on a horse and buggy and looking at the outside of the envelope when you mail something. It's bad, but it's a very large number of individually acceptable actions, and therefore not clearly prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.
It's analogous to how personal information is treated in this country. If I collect information on you, staying within the law, that information is mine and you do not in general have control over it.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Let's see: under the 4th amendment we all have a right against invasions of any of our "persons, houses, papers, and effects"...
Are wireless transmissions "persons"? Obviously not.
Are wireless transmissions "houses"? Well, as those transmissions are floating about freely on the airwaves, that can't be.
Are wireless transmissions "papers"? You might be tempted to say that a radio transmission is an analogue of a paper in that both contain personal information. But the meaning of papers in 1789 was the container that housed information that you could choose to retain private. Wireless transmissions, unless encrypted, are not containers that keep your information secure. Strike three.
Are wireless transmissions effects? Well, effects in the legal sense are objects that can be moved, such as objects that aren't a part of your house that you own. The important part is that these effects are retained in your possession; information is no longer in your possession once it has been transmitted out of your control (over the public airwaves or wires). Strike four.
I know that you might want a right to privacy to be there, but it just isn't. What is there is a right against government intrusions of your space that you act to keep private. There is a huge difference.
Extending the Patriot Act is NOT GOOD!