Cracks Widen In The Armor Of The Surveillance State

[WillyT]

Cracks widen in the armor of the surveillance state
Thursday, August 1, 2013 at 11:26 am by Shahid Buttar



<snip>

Members of Congress sensitive to constitutional limits on executive power have introduced no fewer than a dozen bills to curtail NSA spying. Most of them would do nothing to address the most recent disclosures from journalist Glenn Greenwald. Until the full scope of NSA spying is revealed to the public, congressional remedies for constitutional violations will remain insufficient.

Unfortunately, while Snowden’s disclosures may enable further facts to finally emerge about NSA abuses, transparency is generally waning despite President Obama’s rhetorical commitment to it.

The latest revelations of NSA domestic spying include new information about the government’s ability to intercept social network communications, email metadata and content, and other online content–all without a judicial warrant.

Beyond the particular details about Xkeyscore, however, lies a more disturbing implication: neither the press, nor the public, nor even Congress have any idea of the full extent to which the NSA is spying on Americans.

And if the latest results from the war on whistleblowers is any indication, each of these sectors will remain in the dark going forward, executive abuses will continue to mount, and our system of constitutional checks & balances will creak as executive secrecy continues to impede review from either Congress or the courts.

Congress legislating in the dark…

<snip>

More: http://www.constitutioncampaign.org/blog/?p=14458#.Uf1zcdK86So

[dkf]

1. Congress is so clueless they have to issue a request to ascertain the full scope of the NSAs actions

The measure would require the agency to report the number of phone records it’s gathered and to make public the details of any other bulk data-collection programs it operates, including when they began, how much they cost and what types of records are being collected, and to list any terrorist plots that the programs have thwarted.

The added reporting requirements would do nothing to rein in the agency’s ability to collect the data, which may be one reason the bill soared through the Appropriations Committee. Durbin’s office was optimistic that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will support the added transparency measures, but most senators had left Washington on Friday to begin their vacation and were unavailable for comment.


Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/02/198458/no-2-senate-democrat-joins-calls.html#.Uf11yMu9KSM#storylink=cpy

[questionseverything]

5. durbin's measure is just there to

provide cover for a clearly unconstitutional activity

[rhett o rick]

6. I wouldnt call them "clueless". Their financial advisors most likely tell them they should side

the NSA and not the masses.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. kick

[tularetom]

3. This is the issue that has potential to end the phony "liberal v. conservative" media narrative

that has paid off so well for republicans over the past three decades.

There's something for everybody in it. Right wingers and republicans love it because they hate Obama and they can beat him about the head and shoulders with it. Democrats love it because opposition to big brother style government snooping is the right thing to do.

And the fact that the governmental "security" agencies are so reluctant to give up any of their secrecy just fuels public opposition to their programs.

Universal anger over NSA is going to trump divisive social/religious issues as an area of concern to Americans. Might take time but it will happen.

[liberal_at_heart]

7. It is nice to see the country break through the superficial narratives and actually discuss a real

issue. It's a rare event, but it is nice to see it. I sure wish we could get to a point where we were voting on issues and not on who's team is winning the game.

[rhett o rick]

4. Congress as a whole would just as soon we pretended this didnt happen. The INOF Group here

in DU also fight every day to put the horses back in the barn and pretend every things fine.

However, Congress should be interested in the NSA spying. IMO a number of political lives have been shortened most likely helped by NSA spying.