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Senate Passes USA Freedom Act
schwit1 points out that the U.S. Senate has passed the USA Freedom Act by a vote of 67-32, sending it on to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law. The bill removes mass metadata collection powers from the NSA, but also grants a new set of surveillance powers to replace them. Telecoms now hang on to that data, and the government can access it if they suspect the target is part of a terrorism investigation and one of the call's participants is overseas. "The second provision revived Tuesday concerns roving wiretaps. Spies may tap a terror suspect's communications without getting a renewed FISA Court warrant, even as a suspect jumps from one device to the next. The FISA Court need not be told who is being targeted when issuing a warrant. The third spy tool renewed is called "lone wolf" in spy jargon. It allows for roving wiretaps. However, the target of wiretaps does not have to be linked to a foreign power or terrorism."
Same as the Old Act.
I wanna get fooled again!
Watch the Law Closely as i cover it and mix the shells up....
Because most of the public's concern could have been ended with some tight language that said that under no circumstances can the NSA intelligence products or systems be used to support an ordinary criminal investigation and any such use by law enforcement constitutes a severe felony offense. Right or wrong, most of the public wouldn't care if the target was literally in the law, only those accused of espionage or terrorism. The public really lost its shit when it came out that ordinary drug dealers were being busted with NSA resources and the cops were lying their asses off to the courts.
"The FISA Court need not be told who is being targeted when issuing a warrant."
why the fuck not!
They've built all of these systems around spying, and every other country is spying... Why would they stop now? They're established.
A lot of good his little song and dance did... Eh, easy to speak up when nobody is listening.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
A terror suspect not linked to terrorism?
I think they mean terrorist NGOs like ISIS that aren't "foreign powers?" Or maybe it's for general FISA Court-approved warrants with no link to terror?
.: Semper Absurda
I feel free'r already.
Yay, Freedom!
How could you not sign a Freedom act? What are you a communist?
You didn't think the government was going to give up their addiction to surveillance crack that easily, did you?
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
the American people get fucked again.
A particularly comprehensive and relevant post is pinned to the top of the subreddit /r/Conspiracy on the massively popular site known as ‘The Front Page of the Internet,’ Reddit. It’s titled ‘How Reddit Was Destroyed’, and documents how Reddit became overran with censorship and other idea-suppressing ills ref.
Move along citizen, freedom service has now been restored, no need to sign or even see the EULA.
Hear ye, hear ye,
The United States of America shall no longer uphold the Fourth Amendment.
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection and Online Monitoring
I guess we can look forward to more of these in the future, especially for legislation designed to pull the wool over our eyes.
... it's the goddam Freedom Act.
It's like calling it the "Save The Little Kitty Cats Act."
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Now maybe people will actually bother using their email encryption and secure VoIP services and anonymized Tor routers and all of that fun stuff now that you KNOW that they're tracking you. Even moreso now that the telecom companies are in charge of collecting your data, since I trust them less than the NSA.
If our Congressmen had been in the Bundestag in the 1930s, they would have passed something like the "Freedom for Jews Act".
...they just passed the cost of retaining all that metadata to the telcos. I pity the telcos.
New boss, same as the old boss...
http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...
It all hinges on the circle jerks agreeing with each other, which they have always done.
Nothing new, and one wonders what the "telecoms" are doing with the metadata.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
"The bill removes mass metadata collection powers from the NSA"
Unanimous 2nd circuit decision says no, original authors of the patriot act say no. Yet media completely ignores the issue and assumes without question patriot act authorized any such thing to begin with.
Third party doctrine predates the patriot act and Hayden goes around publically gloating Article II powers stemming from Bush era AUMF is the source of his authority.
Even if patriot act were left to expire wholesale without "USA Freedom Act" resurrection those against this FUD powered insanity were never even in the game.
be an American. Not exactly the first time but to paraphrase those who should know better...
slavery act
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I thought the point of the NSA was that they were meant to protect domestic communications from external threats. If the target is not linked to external threats, how can it be justified?
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Wait, you're against the "Freedom Act"? What? Do you hate freedom? I can't hear your objections over the tremendous Freedom we just passed. Oh wait we can, we can hear everything you say within range of a cell phone now, and its legal now. Sure mass surveillance wouldn't have been passed the following days of World War 2 where our grandfathers fought against tyrants trying that, but I guess they're either dead or too old now to protest.
Most Transparent EVAR!
When the forefathers of the United States wanted to have the ability to live a independent and free life. And they fought for that right, and through that fight using violence and blood. They accomplished their goal, but the threads of that violence, and evil stayed within us. And as this country was being built, and evolved into what it is today. Those threads of evil are still present in our society because our freedom came at the price of blood. Nothing is impossible, things are only impossible until someone makes the impossible possible. We just have to open our minds, hearts, and explore new possibilities with out brains. We all have intelligence, and the ability to rise above the complications that hold us back. So lets use our intelligence and solve our problems, the knowledge and technology to solve all our problems are available. As a species we have evolved to the point to where we have the ability to do anything we can think of. At one point in our history it was thought impossible to sail across the world because people thought the world was flat. It was thought impossible that we could fly with the birds in the sky. We can regain our freedom, and leave the evil behind that has haunted us from the beginning. And we can do it this time without violence and blood. The knowledge, technology, and ability is available for us to cut the strings of evil from our past so we can move towards a better future. Each evil thread that we cut that is holding us back will make it easier for us all to move forward, and heal the wounds from that evil.
Just wait till Barack Obama is in the White House! January 20, 2008 can't come soon enough!
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
This will be a financial boon to the telecom industry. The black budgets are going to have to come up with money to pay for the storage and retrieval by the telcos. I expect this to be quite profitable for them. There are also going to be some nice contracts for redesigning the systems now that the stakeholders have changed.
So who receives access and who declares a target as suspect? Then there's the intelligence-sharing routine that US bureaucrats have been expanding for the last decade: It doesn't matter who asks, for what reason, if every agency can pirate it. I use the word pirate because meta-data is now corporate property and private information.
Australia just did something similar: Forget about specifying the person and place, the police can now cyber-search everyone who owns a car using one warrant, or who has two legs, or ate a big Mac as other warrants. Even better, Australian police can then plant cyber-evidence.
So the "suspect the target is part of a terrorism investigation" condition is totally meaningless. Not that it meant much anyway: A government can investigate a deceased Mother Teresa for terrorism, no evidence or probable cause required.
This just converts that 'Americans have no privacy' executive order by president Reagan into law.
How about the wisdom from this one?
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.- Benjamin Franklin
...Swap the signage outside the NSA datacenter to say "AT&T".
Breach of law averted. Resume spying.
With laws named such, who can possibly doubt USA is the freest land in the world?!?!
AKA: The NSA Cost Cutting Act, thank you telecoms for storing our data so we don't have to invest in storage.
that people are too afraid to lose what they have worked for all their lives. That has to stop. the first order of business is jury nullification on certain classes of criminal trials.
Team America: World Police.
Seriously, though, we all know (or those of us with CT experience), that the only programs that have worked are those in the Middle East and nearby countries. Spying on Americans in America has proved very worthless. Traditional police investigations using targetted individual warrants and traditional police interrogation (not torture) have resulted in all the successes to date.
We need to stop wasting time on promoting Fear to justify wasting taxes on unneeded spying and focus on the true threats, which are not here.
That said, expect numerous false flag media reports over the next few weeks in a vain attempt to prove we should all live in Fear.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
We would have been better off with no bill, i will not be voting for the traitors who vote yes on this.
I have but one question to ask:
Where is the *FREEDOM* in that 'usa freedom act'?
In the words of Futurama: "My fellow Earthicans, we enjoy so much freedom it's almost sickening. We're free to choose which hand our sex-monitoring chip is implanted in. And if we don't want to pay our taxes, why, we're free to spend a weekend with the Pain Monster". That is really the only freedom you have.
God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board -- Mark Twain Look for http://Thebar.steelbeachca
Instead of making the names of our laws acronyms, we make the texts of the laws into rap lyrics. That should make everyone realize how important and official they are.
So if the telecos are going to hold onto the data now, can I access those records to track down the fscking telemarkters and robocallers that call 20 times a day?
Nice to force companies to have to spend more money spontaneously to hang on to this data.
Nice clandestine tax on an entire industry.
It's freedom for the NSA to explore and maybe one day find itself.
Rand Paul seems like the best option. Too bad the presidential race is an American Idol contest.
This is why it needs to be mandatory for all congress people who vote for 'insert bill', how much money was donated by who/what causes... there to be publicly displayed... oh wait there will never be a law for that because it conflicts with their interests.
http://gamehacking.org/vb/threads/12747-nensondubois-codes http://twitter.com/nensondubois_
...they just passed the cost of retaining all that metadata to the telcos. I pity the telcos.
The telcos have *always* done this. Phone number making the call, phone number being called, date/time call made, duration of call ... sound familiar? That's the info on your phone bill. The phone companies have always hung on to this metadata for well over a year.
The *only* thing new was providing the government direct unrestricted access to this billing data so that the government could build an association graph of phone numbers.
This will be a financial boon to the telecom industry. The black budgets are going to have to come up with money to pay for the storage and retrieval by the telcos. I expect this to be quite profitable for them. There are also going to be some nice contracts for redesigning the systems now that the stakeholders have changed.
No. There is nothing new here at all with respect to phone company infrastructure or practices. The metadata is basically what is on your phone bill. The phone companies have always hung on to this data for years. The only new thing that happened was granting the government direct unrestricted access to this data.
Now the phone companies can (outragously over) charge the NSA for handling it's customer tracking information service requests.
And bill for the increase in consultant manpower to handle the new processes.
Using a surplus government data center in Utah for cheap.
Wait until the consultants & employees start spying on their wives, husbands, girlfriends, boy friends, coworkers, ex's of all types, children, and any competetion.
Not just 1984, but totally global corporate warfare !
Wouldn't you like to play a nice game of chess ?
This is my opinion based on what little I know and understand of the rumors and lies Thanks, Randal
Exactly. It doesn't specify whose freedom it is. It's the NSA's freedom. It's the government's freedom.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
William Shatner's version of this legislation
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It has to be good.
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.
same place as Patriot in the patriot act.
shoved really far up your ass with a nightstick.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Actually, it's classic doublespeak, designed to shut down any debate or dissension. To oppose The USA Freedom act is to publicly come out against the USA and Freedom. Just like opposition to the PATRIOT act branded you an unpatriotic apple-pie-hating flag-burning radical.
It also speaks volumes about how brazen our so-called representatives have become. They don't even try hide it - It's right there in your face, and if you don't like it, too bad. There's nothing you can do about it.
Whoever came up with that title had read 1984
Ministry of Education. Ministry of Truth. Freedom Act.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The opposition to the bill, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), prompted an intraparty standoff that exposed sharp splits along philosophical and generational lines, and between the two chambers on Capitol Hill.
The bill passed by a wide margin in the House last month but languished as those who sought to maintain the status quo, led by McConnell, tried to stare down Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and the other senators who supported either ending or reforming the most controversial provisions of the surveillance programs.
"It does not enhance the privacy protections of American citizens, and it surely compromises American security by taking one more tool from our war fighters, in my view, at exactly the wrong time," McConnell said Tuesday, minutes before colleagues rejected a series of amendments he favored.
"This is the Senate, and members are entitled to different views, and members have tools to assert those views. Itâ(TM)s the nature of the body where we work," McConnell said Tuesday morning. "But what's happened has happened, and we are where we are. Now is the time to put all that in the past and work together to diligently make some discrete and sensible improvements to the House bill."
They included extending the transition away from bulk collection to one year
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
They included extending the transition away from bulk collection to one year in order, in McConnell's words, to "ensure that there is adequate time .â.â. to build and test a system that doesn't yet exist." Another required telecom companies to notify the government if they change their data-retention policies.
On the Senate floor, his allies continued to rail against the House bill, arguing that it would hamstring the national security apparatus at a time of significant and emerging global threats.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Snowden a "traitor to the United States" who has "put the lives of Americans and foreigners at risk," while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) doubted whether the new system established by the bill would do any more to protect Americans' privacy by keeping the records out of government hands.
"The telecom companies sell our personal data, including our names, our phone numbers, our addresses, to the highest bidder for telemarketing and other purposes, and some of that data ends up in the hands of con artists," she said, adding, "The fact is that the House bill substantially weakens a vital tool in our counterterrorism efforts at a time when the terrorist threat has never been higher."
Just before the final vote around 4 p.m. Tuesday, McConnell took the floor to defend his moves to preserve the existing surveillance programs. He also lambasted Obama's foreign policy, calling the end of the phone-data program the latest in a series of missteps that includes his decisions to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and to seek the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
"The pattern is clear," McConnell said. "The president has been a reluctant commander in chief."
The pattern is QUITE clear indeed.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
It's right there in the middle of the name.
doesn't really make sense, so I'm okay with that bit.
I wish they would just name every law they want to pass "The Mom and Apple Pie" act with a number after it just to get the feelgood nonsense into some kind of order.
E Proelio Veritas.
See subject: From http://slashdot.org/comments.p... ?
Your "DNS lookup" b.s.?
1st: Hosts exceed SLOWER remote DNS lookup (Exploit ridden by Kaminsky redirect flaw & 99.999% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it!) - how?
I avoid DNS putting WHERE I SPEND 95%++ ONLINE TIME @ TOP OF HOSTS via 30 favs!
2nd: AdBlocking gains speed!
BOTH exceed remote DNS lag indexed lookup post query/turnaround on resolution (do the math binary search) over 3++ million records w/ a most efficient blocking format = better load + internal parse & no bloat in hosts cached in LOCAL RAM via 2 kernelmode subsystems (diskcache & ip stack = no usermode context switch overhead like Windows' faulty w/ large hosts files usermode dns cache service) vs. remote DNS for utmost in speed, efficiency + reliability (my program keeps hardcodes current) vs. downed DNS too.
* Hosts = MORE SPEED + EFFICIENCY & ease of maintenance (via http://start64.com/index.php?o...) versus:
1.) Remote DNS & hosts do so w/ less resource use + added on app complexity/room for breakdown & exploit w/ added CPU & power use w/ a local setup DNS (worse if separate system) + complexity of deny rules vs. hosts simple entries
+ vs.
2.) "Almost ALL Ads Blocked": Hosts are far more efficient doing more w/ less vs. AdBlock's BLOAT & regex complexity vs. hosts simple entries. Addons add overheads layered over slower browsers in usermode increasing messagepassing overheads vs. hosts in kernelmode (run some addons concurrently see what I mean). Addons do more added I/O operations + consume more memory & create CPU overuse + complexity (regex vs. hosts entries) bolted-on in SLOW usemode vs. hosts in PURE kernelmode via a high cpu serviced layer of ops by IP stack. Addons = easily detected by native browser methods + clarityray shuts 'em down (hosts aren't).
APK
P.S.=> + Hosts != bribed (like AdBlock/ABP NOT DOING THE 1 JOB IT HAD by default)... apk
Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.
Mark Twain
Any word on whether the cops can still use stingray?
typically the more patriotic they make the name sound... the less patriotic it is...
usa freedom act
patriot act
are either of them really patriotic or promote more freedom? I don't think they do... unless your on the law enforcement end of the law...
Can we please just use bill numbers or something. You know, "bill 24552.1.b" instead of "moar freedom xxl" bill.
On a related note, is there a bill name generator somewhere that gets used? How have they not run out of 'freedom' and 'patriot' named bills by now? Where is "Patriotic Freedom bill version 2 XL. The re-return to Iraq. This time it's personal. Freedom 9/11 9/11"
...and the terrorists won AGAIN--without any terrorist attacks or attempts on U.S. soil in years.
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The new spy tool is called "Opposition Research" in ordinary person jargon.
https://cantheyseemydick.com/ And it's just silly to count the votes. If it had been a republican president the votes had been switched. There's way too much politics in politics. You guys (The USA) need some politicians who's representing the people not the party or the money.
as the last.
And almost indistinguishable from the last one.
I have but one question to ask:
Where is the *FREEDOM* in that 'usa freedom act'?
You expected perhaps the "Less Rights for Americans Act" ?
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Actually, it's classic doublespeak, designed to shut down any debate or dissension. To oppose The USA Freedom act is to publicly come out against the USA and Freedom. Just like opposition to the PATRIOT act branded you an unpatriotic apple-pie-hating flag-burning radical.
It also speaks volumes about how brazen our so-called representatives have become. They don't even try hide it - It's right there in your face, and if you don't like it, too bad. There's nothing you can do about it.
I am curious about what words they will use when patriot and freedom (etc) have been played out.
I imagine it will become like the naming of movies...'Patriot Act IV' and Freedom Act IX
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
See subject: From http://slashdot.org/comments.p... ?
(Vs. your "DNS lookup" b.s. http://slashdot.org/comments.p... )
1st: Hosts exceed SLOWER remote DNS lookup (exploit ridden by Kaminsky redirect flaw & 99.999% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it!) - how?
I avoid DNS putting WHERE I SPEND 95%++ of MY ONLINE TIME @ TOP OF HOSTS via 30 favs!
2nd: AdBlocking gains speed!
BOTH exceed remote DNS lag indexed lookup post query/turnaround on resolution (do the math binary search) over 3++ million records w/ a most efficient blocking format = better load + internal parse & no bloat in hosts cached in LOCAL RAM via 2 kernelmode subsystems (diskcache & ip stack = no usermode context switch overhead like Windows' faulty w/ large hosts files usermode dns cache service) w/ Hosts also as 1st RESOLVER QUERIED by the IP Stack vs. remote DNS for utmost in speed, efficiency + reliability (my program keeps hardcodes current) vs. downed DNS too.
* Hosts = MORE SPEED + EFFICIENCY & ease of maintenance (via http://start64.com/index.php?o...) versus:
1.) Remote DNS & hosts do so w/ less resource use + added on app complexity/room for breakdown & exploit w/ added CPU & power use w/ a local setup DNS (worse if separate system) + complexity of deny rules vs. hosts simple entries
+ vs.
2.) "Almost ALL Ads Blocked": Hosts are far more efficient doing more w/ less vs. AdBlock's BLOAT & regex complexity vs. hosts simple entries. Addons add overheads layered over slower browsers in usermode increasing messagepassing overheads vs. hosts in kernelmode (run some addons concurrently see what I mean). Addons do added I/O operations + consume more memory & CPU + add complexity (regex vs. hosts entries) in SLOW usemode vs. hosts in kernelmode via a high cpu serviced layer of ops by IP stack. Addons = easily detected by native browser methods + clarityray shuts 'em down (hosts aren't).
APK
P.S.=> + Hosts != bribed (like AdBlock/ABP NOT DOING THE 1 JOB IT HAD by default)... apk
US Prosecutors Say Clearing Browser Data Can Be Obstruction of Justice
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
oh, yea just like my vacuum says whisper quiet but I swear I think hearing protection would be a good idea for it