Major US Tech Firms Press Congress For Internet Surveillance Reforms (reuters.com)

Dustin Volz, reporting for Reuters: Facebook, Amazon and more than two dozen other U.S. technology companies pressed Congress on Friday to make changes to a broad internet surveillance law, saying they were necessary to improve privacy protections and increase government transparency. The request marks the first significant public effort by Silicon Valley to wade into what is expected to be a contentious debate later the year over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, parts of which will expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress reauthorizes them. Of particular concern to the technology industry and privacy advocates is Section 702, which allows U.S. intelligence agencies to vacuum up vast amounts of communications from foreigners but also incidentally collects some data belonging to Americans that can be searched by analysts without a warrant.

Comments

Re:No NOT just "incidentally"

[XxtraLarGe]

To those of you foolish enough to believe that US citizen surveillance via FBI/CIA/NSA is a partisan issue; please stop dumbing down the conversation. If you think that the only enemy is the other party and that your party is the steward of rights and liberties, then you haven't paid attention. Both parties have no problem with doubling down on these abuses.

It's not a partisan issue, but that's not the point. The point Scentcone is trying to make is that the press is trying to quash a story that would be front page news for weeks if it happened under a Republican administration.