Senators Push Trump Administration For Clarity On Privacy Act Exclusions (onthewire.io)

Trailrunner7 quotes a report from On the Wire: A group of influential lawmakers, including Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Ron Wyden, are pressing the Trump administration for answers about how an executive order that includes changes to the Privacy Act will affect non-U.S. persons and whether the administration plans to release immigrants' private data. The letter comes from six senators who are concerned about the executive order that President Trump issued two weeks ago that excludes from privacy protections people who aren't U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The order is mostly about changes to immigration policy, but Trump also included a small section that requires federal government agencies to exclude immigrants from Privacy Act protections. On Thursday, Markey, Wyden, and four other senators sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jon Kelly, asking a series of 10 questions about how the exclusion would be implemented, what it would cost, and whether the government plans to release the private data of people affected by the order. "These Privacy Act exclusions could have a devastating impact on immigrant communities, and would be inconsistent with the commitments made when the government collected much of this information," the senators said in the letter to Kelly. In the letter, the lawmakers ask Kelly whether people affected by the order will be allowed full access to their own private data that has been collected by the government. They also ask how the government plans to identify U.S. persons in their databases and what policies DHS will apply to separate them from non-U.S persons. The letter also asks for clarification on how the executive order will affect the Privacy Shield pact between the U.S and the European Union. That agreement enables companies to move private data between countries under certain data protection laws.

Comments

Flynn is a Russian spy

[Anonymous Coward]

Meanwhile CIA and FBI staff have confirmed Flynn's discussions with the Russian Ambassador about lifting sanctions, as described in the pee memo. BEFORE the election.

"A US official confirmed to CNN late Friday afternoon that Flynn and the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, did speak about sanctions, among other matters, during the call....Flynn cannot rule out that he spoke to Kislyak about sanctions, an aide close to the national security adviser said earlier Friday. Flynn, the aide said, has "no recollection of discussing sanctions," but added that the national security adviser "couldn't be certain that the topic never came up."

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/flynn-russia-us-sanctions-reports/index.html

Keep in mind Flynn was a nobody, back in August, when the memo says Putin was grooming him. Which means Putin knew before America that Trump would pluck this nobody for his security advisor, and it confirms Trump conspired with Putin to select people. The Russian Ambassador knew too, before the election that Flynn was to be appointed, again before Trump actually chose him. Proving the two conspired.

At this point Republicans need to get their shit together, prosecute Trump for treason, put Pence in, get the cyber security bill signed, the one Trump is blocking. Get the generals put back onto the National Security council, after Trump demoted them to occasional consultants... they are Congretional Appointees assigned to the National Security Council FFS, America is vulnerable if the military is removed from those meetings, and only Putin's agents are present.

The two spies Putin arrested, they fit the profile of the two known agents in the pee memos. These agents were known and considered reliable by NSA, CIA, MI6 etc. Yet they were arrested just after Trump's men entered the CIA. If they are US spies in Russia, then Trump needs to face espionage charges for passing their names across.

Kick this whiney buttercup out of office and put a Republican in.

"devastating impact"

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

That's the entire point of Steve Bannon, the "President behind the curtain". He wants to destabilize the entire planet and destroy civilization as we know it. This is an exact quote from him:

“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

He's the one who's really writing many of these Executive Orders. He wants to burn it all down, and rebuild it in his own twisted image that fits his into his alt-right image. He knows that our society is held together by very fragile bonds formed through trust, past promises, monetary policy; attack these pillars and the whole thing will collapse.

It'll never happen

[Anonymous Coward]

Until we reduce the reelection rates in congress you can forget about it.

We have become so partisan in this country - which the ruling class LOVES - that we'll never see that happen.

My state keeps sending the same old people back every year. Why? because it means voting for a Democrat.

And that will never happen. In my state, all a Republican needs to do is say "Pro-Life" and "Roe vs Wade has to go" and "Democrats gonna take yer guns!" he's in. And here, Democrats are socialists!

Privacy and the finer points of civil liberties goes right over their heads. And how those "Conservatives" have gamed the system against them: how their retirement plans are being gouged by financial firms' fees; how they are being gouged by their ISP and cable TV company; why the business up the road can dump just about anything it wants into the ground; just flies through their ears.

As long as they have their bibles, guns, football on ESPN and F-150, they're happier than the pigs on the McCully farm. You can do anything you want to them politically.

I really hope my disgust for the American electorate shows.

Re:It'll never happen

[WheezyJoe]

You're better off in a swing state. Any state or district where one party has a "lock" is guaranteed to be corrupt... and that goes for Republicans (the Old South) and Democrats (looking at you, Massachusetts). It's just the way it is, no different from the way monopolies in business can't help but screw their customers... there's nothing stopping them, and the temptation is too great.

The fix? Term limits. At least it's a start. But the sad thing is the Republicans actually PROMOTED term limits as part of their Contract with America. The Contract helped the Republicans capture the House back in the Clinton years. My faith in Republicans evaporated when their commitment to term limits did the same pretty much as soon as they took office (thanks, Newt... I haven't forgotten).

But voters can do their own term limits. If Americans were really serious about their low approval of Congress, they would vote out whoever is the incumbent. Keep that up for a couple of terms, and the Parties would get the message, because they keep losing. Would force Congresspeople, particularly members of the House with their 2-year terms, to work a lot harder to keep their jobs or else resign themselves to a single term. But Americans have short memories, and often don't know who their Representative or even Senators are. Worse, the Parties often don't even try in Districts they don't feel safe in (looking at you, Democrats). That's why things don't change.

Re:It'll never happen

[kevmeister]

My state (California) voted in term limits many years ago and we have come to regret the unintended consequences. The problem is that 4-6 years is not long enough ot learn to deal with the entrenched interests. The result was that lobbyists, who are around much longer, became invaluable "helpers" to the large number of newly elected and inexperienced legislators and ended up effectively running the legislature. Their influence, always a concern, grew tremendously.

Now the term limits have been eased (also by popular vote) and it is hoped that this will help. We'll see in 5 or 6 years

Re:It'll never happen

[WheezyJoe]

Do you also remember that SCOTUS shot down term limits as unconstitutional?

Please cite. And anyway, the Party can mandate term-limits within their own ranks, and SCOTUS has nothing to say. The Party gives you one shot, then if you want re-election, you're on your own as an independent. If there's a will, there's a way. But there was no real will behind term-limits, or else Newt knew all along that the plank for term-limits in his Contract was a sucker-play all along. Not the first time people like him played the electorate for fools, and sadly won't be the last.

Re:Still much more secure

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone who lives in Western Europe and has been travelling to the USA since 1975 I can safely say that I really have no inclination to want to visit while you current TWIC (Tweeter in Charge) is running the show.
Sorry guys but my tourist dollar will be going elsewhere for the forseeable future.
Last year I spent close on $3,000 in the USA. This year, I'm going to Sri Lanka.

Re: Less secure

[mmell]

It seems more likely to me that this will create opportunities for European companies to clone US based services (including everything down to the business model). What person in Europe would choose a Gmail account when they could get a Euromail account which works just well and includes European-style privacy guarantees? You know, Protonmail suddenly comes screaming to mind.