ACLU thanks Snowden for inspiring today's House approval of NSA reform bill

[Jemon]

May 7, 2014,

"Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, had this reaction to today’s vote:

'This is a historic turn of events in our government's approach to counterterrorism policies. This is the first bill to rein in government spying and bulk collection of our most private phone and digital information. This legislation will help keep Americans safe but will also provide greater privacy and transparency in our surveillance programs. The committee’s actions are a step towards bringing the government’s surveillance regime in line with the Constitution, even as more reforms are needed. Today’s milestone vote is a direct result of the important disclosures made by Edward Snowden.' "

Read more: https://www.aclu.org/national-security/house-committee-approves-nsa-reform-bill

[malaise]

1. Oh My!

Get thee to the greatest page
- expect consternation!!!

[Purveyor]

2. kick. Thanks for posting. +1 eom

[Zorra]

3. We could use a thousand or so more whistleblowers like Snowden, Manning, Assange, etc.

If we had a democratic government, whistleblowers would be honored instead of getting banished, prosecuted, and imprisoned.

[DCBob]

4. That's like thanking someone for blowing up your house because you had termites.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. People don't usually pay termites to eat their houses.

[joshcryer]

7. Yep, it only passes if the Patriot Act is extended to 2017.

It's quaint to see the purists championing incremental change that the NSA would no doubt work around.

[Major Hogwash]

17. Gosh, Josh, what makes you think it won't be extended??

I mean, given the current temperament in Washington, who is going to stand up and say that we don't need that POS legislation nowadays?

[joshcryer]

19. Nothing.

That's the whole point of my post. But incremental change is "capitulation."

SOP rules the day and we pat ourselves on the back for it.

[951-Riverside]

10. The ACLU, Snowden and Greenwald are enemies of the state!

The NSA programs were set up to protect their commie Putin lovin' butts!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. It's a start. Much more is needed. And, many more Snowdens to step up. K&R

[joshcryer]

9. Repeal the Patriot Act.

[LittleBlue]

8. Time to throw the ACLU under the bus?

Or did we do that already?

The ACLU is my favorite donation every year. They never disappoint me.

[WillyT]

11. K & R !!!

[G_j]

12. so now the ALCU supports Putin?

follow the logic?

[Jemon]

13. The ACLU supports the crackdown of Russian bloggers

Or something.

[ProSense]

15. Welcome to DU. The ACLU represents Snowden. n/t

[ProSense]

14. EFF didn't thank Snowden, but it did

give more details.

EFF Praises Judiciary Committee Successfully Passing the Revised USA FREEDOM Act, Urges Congress to Strengthen the Bill with Additional Amendments

Earlier today, the House Judiciary Committee passed a revised version of the USA FREEDOM Act. We’re pleased by Congress’ strong step toward ending bulk surveillance of phone records of Americans. This bill is a good start toward reforming an out-of-control surveillance state, and we urge members of Congress to support it as the bill moves forward through the legislative process.

The USA FREEDOM Act includes a definition of call detail records which excludes cell site location data, a provision that will help safeguard the location privacy of millions of Americans from mass NSA surveillance. However, we remain concerned that the bill allows prospective collection—collection of records that have not yet been created—up to 180 days.

There are a number of surveillance issues that are not yet addressed by the current version of the USA FREEDOM Act. In particular, the bill does not address the collection authority under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. The bill fails to fix the “backdoor loophole,” in which the NSA interprets the law to allow searches of the data collected under Section 702 for the purpose of finding communications of a United States person. Section 702 authorities need to be sharply limited to ensure that collection is only possible for communications to and from a designated target, not merely those who mention a target in a communication. The scope of Section 702 should be limited by requiring a description of who, what, and where the NSA is targeting.

In addition, the FISA court reform provisions in the current version of the USA FREEDOM Act provide a starting point, but more is needed to ensure a fair adjudication of surveillance authorization. The legislation has a provision that allows the FISA court to assign amici, meaning non-parties can brief issues before the court. But the court has already determined that it has the authority to do this. In fact, EFF filed a brief with the court just this year on an evidence preservation issue. The bill must go further and introduce a special privacy advocate who can review, challenge, and appeal orders in the highly secretive FISA Court orders.

Furthermore, the transparency amendment that was included in the bill did not go far enough, adopting a modified version of the Department of Justice’s existing permission to report in broad bands. This legislation should provide stronger transparency provisions to ensure that users know, with as much granularity as possible, how and when the government issues orders for user data and how many accounts are affected. This is a vital check against government surveillance abuses.

And finally, we urge Congress to acknowledge that non U.S. persons have fundamental rights to privacy, and NSA surveillance should be the minimum necessary to achieve a desired result and proportionate to the actual threat.

The new version of the USA FREEDOM Act is a strong first step to undoing the damage of the government’s tortured interpretation of the PATRIOT Act. The Judiciary Committee should be commended for moving the conversation on reforming the NSA's activities forward. We urge Congress to support this bill and to support additional privacy protections to address outstanding issues, whether through amendments or other legislative vehicles.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/05/eff-praises-judiciary-committee-successfully-passing-revised-usa-freedom-act-urges

[Jemon]

16. The EFF supports even stronger reforms, just like the ACLU

From the ACLU link " noting that the bill still needs improvements and that additional reforms to NSA programs are required."

[joshcryer]

20. If this passes there won't be reforms for 3 years.

It's kicking the can down the road, and the NSA will easily work around the restrictions.

[bvar22]

18. Kudos to Snowden and the other protectors of our Democracy!