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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 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.
Move along citizen, freedom service has now been restored, no need to sign or even see the EULA.
You kidding? It did tons of good. Did you see that thread the other day? People falling over themselves to talk about how great he was and how they wanted to vote for him. Some of those people are going to read this now and realize that the whole thing was just more grandstanding, but some are not. Not everyone sees every story, not everyone gets the whole picture, and as long as some people wind up with a perception of the shining hero then the song and dance has done some good.
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...
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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
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.
He single-handedly blocked continuation of authorization of mass metadata collection. That's what he did. A whole hell of a lot more than any of those other pukes did. You don't see mass metadata collection being re-authorized by this new act, do you? That's right. It's not.
Yeah, this new act sucks. And guess what? It passed on the strength of democrats being in the tank by an absurd 43-1 margin. Republicans opposed it by 30-23.
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
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! --
He single-handedly blocked continuation of authorization of mass metadata collection.
That is not true.
The Freedom Act, nor any amendments that passed committee (none of them, to McConnell's dismay) allowed for that. The bill was designed to reform the metadata collection, and it did so.
Now don't get me wrong- it's awesome that he stood up and blocked this horse shit for 11 hours, but he didn't stop the tide, nor did he have the power to.
i will not be voting for the traitors who vote yes on this.
It makes no difference who you vote for. Evil will win anyway. Millions of moron voters will make sure of it.
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.
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_
As I said in a previous thread, an alternative plan had already been laid out, so the old one could be allowed to die... with great public fanfare from Mr. Paul, and everybody comes out stinking like a rose. You are absolutely right, hardly anybody sees the big picture. That is what these little side shows are for. I can assure you that if he had any real power, he would not be biting these peoples' ankles. Once you hit the big time, you don't go around tipping apple carts. And it did accomplish nothing but bump up the ad rates on the TV news for a short while. The laws are back in place, as if the NSA needs authorization, and republicans and democrats will continue to dominate.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
...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.
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What part of what has been going on did you not understand?
Section 215 of the Patsiot Act, the one that authorized mass metadata collection, sunseted on Monday at 0000 hours because Rand Paul blocked Bitch McConnell railroading in a clean extension. It has been dead since then. Kaput. It was well on the way to being adjudicated unconstitutional anyway, but that has been 13 years coming, and still not 100% settled. Thanks to Rand Paul - and nobody else - that thing is now dead, regardless of whether the constitutionality is ever 100% settled.
It was dead Monday, and it is still dead. The Freedom Act did not re-enact it. Bitch was trying to sneak in an extension so it wouldn't have to be re-enacted, but the son of a bitch got his ass handed to him by Rand. It is no less dead after passage of the Freedom Act horse shit.
Spin it any way you want, the fact stands that an evil, bad bill failed Republican support 23-30 and won Democrat support 43-1. Period. Live with it.
There are plenty of people, Republicans and others, who want to stamp out islamists carrying on war against the US and all civilized parts of the world, but we don't want to trample the rights and protections of innocents to do it.
That provision was going to expire regardless of whether the Freedom Act was passed that night or the next day. It's not like a vote to reauthorize it was going to happen that night, then get kicked back to the House for reconciliation.
Again- all he did was prevent McConnell from putting in a vote for extending the Patriot Act, which wasn't going to happen. Nobody thought that was going to happen.
To begrudgingly quote Ted Cruz, "It is abundantly clear that a clean reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act ain’t passing this body, and it certainly ain’t passing the House of Representatives."
So again, kudos to Paul for at least being noisy about all this nonsense, but he ultimately did nothing but that.
It has to be good.
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.
Guy speaks up for a bill, he's just another dirty politician. Guy speaks up against a bill, he's just grandstanding. Lose/lose situation. Just what exactly do you expect? What could Rand Paul possibly have done that you would give him any credit at all for? Shoving his head in the sand?
At least he got everyone voting on record of where they stand for a new law, rather than simply an extension. We had our civil liberties back (somewhat) for around two work days. What exactly are Harry Reid and Obama doing about the situation? Oh yeah - they're droning on and on about the embarrassment the current Senate majority is, destroying America's security and aiding the terrorists with their inaction and failure to provide immediate bailout plans. Real upstanding fellows those guys are.
What exactly are Harry Reid and Obama doing about the situation? Oh yeah - they're droning on and on about the embarrassment the current Senate majority is
Oh for Pete's sake... BOTH OF THOSE BILLS HAD MAJORITY SUPPORT. How is that not an embarrassment? The very existence of the Patriot Act, now the Freedom Act, is humiliating.
If it were a competition between republicans and democrats, the republicans would have won this round. Unfortunately both parties suck so hard that I would be ashamed to be on either side.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. I wouldn't be bragging about this if I were a republican. Being better than the democrats only once in a while is pretty pathetic.
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
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.
Section 215 of the Patsiot Act, the one that authorized mass metadata collection, sunseted on Monday at 0000 hours because Rand Paul blocked Bitch McConnell railroading in a clean extension. [...] It was dead Monday, and it is still dead. The Freedom Act did not re-enact it.
The Patriot act did not explicitly empower the bulk collection of communication metadata. That power was based on a broad interpretation of the text that the courts seem increasingly likely to deem illegal. In contrast, the "Freedom" act will require ISPs and phone companies to log and retain this metadata, and will explicitly allow NSA to demand that data based on 'reasonable articulable suspicion' going out two hops a named individual. So, if NSA has a 'reasonable suspicion' that someone might be bad, and that person googles "famous US landmarks," then NSA can ISPs provide data from anyone else who used google.
This may be a restriction over just having a desktop tool to query their own database, but the FISA not historically been much of an impediment. They're mostly just moving the data warehouse from NSA to the ISPs. ISPs that used not to log your every connection will now be required to. ISPs that used those logs only for technical troubleshooting will now be required to develop tools for identifying and connecting endpoints, in order to provide that data to the government upon request. They are certain to find commercial uses for that data to offset the costs.
So, the law that the NSA twisted to justify the bulk metadata program ended, but it was replaced with a law that explicitly authorizes bulk metadata collection and moves that collection to private companies that are not restricted by the 4th amendment. It's being sold to the public like a big curtailing of power, but it doesn't look that way to me
There are plenty of people, Republicans and others, who want to stamp out islamists carrying on war against the US and all civilized parts of the world, but we don't want to trample the rights and protections of innocents to do it.
That is spin. Many of those Republicans - McConnell, McCain, Hatch, etc - opposed the bill not because the authorized data collection programs trample the rights of Americans, but because the restrictions placed on the NSA damage its ability to protect Americans. The Republican 'opposition' prefer more spying.
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.
How many of the republicans were just against it because Dems where for it. Now they have the nice situation where they have what they want while they can blame somebody else.
This will cause people to vote for them and then in a few years time they are in favour and the Dems are 'against'.
There are no two different parties. There is one big one.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
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
He single-handedly blocked continuation of authorization of mass metadata collection. That's what he did. A whole hell of a lot more than any of those other pukes did. You don't see mass metadata collection being re-authorized by this new act, do you? That's right. It's not.
Yeah, this new act sucks. And guess what? It passed on the strength of democrats being in the tank by an absurd 43-1 margin. Republicans opposed it by 30-23.
Sure it is - it's just being done by the ISPs instead of the NSA directly. End result = same.
As far as D vs R...I seriously doubt that matters anymore.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Spin it any way you want, the fact stands that an evil, bad bill failed Republican support 23-30 and won Democrat support 43-1. Period. Live with it.
There are plenty of people, Republicans and others, who want to stamp out islamists carrying on war against the US and all civilized parts of the world, but we don't want to trample the rights and protections of innocents to do it.
I'm sorry, who was it that signed the original Patriot Act again?
Oh that's right - a republican.
It really doesn't matter.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
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