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Clueless Senators Just Shot Down Our Best Shot at NSA Reform

While many argued that the USA Freedom Act didn't go far enough after being watered down in negotiations, as the EFF explores it was the best chance yet at enacting some meaningful reform in the surveillance community. While it didn't reform the non-transparent FISA court process, and it contained loose language sure to be abused by government lawyers, it did aim to appoint a special advocate to argue for citizen rights before the FISA court and was at least a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, last night the USA Freedom Act was shot down. Despite being so watered down in an effort to please everyone, it failed to get the 60 (58 to 42) votes necessary for cloture in order to "advance" to a full floor vote. Why? Techdirt notes it was general stupidity and a misunderstanding of how data is collected and stored that resulted in dissent ahead of the final vote:

quote:
There was a short debate prior to the vote, and the debate was... stupid. Yes, there are some legitimate concerns with the USA Freedom Act, mostly in that it doesn't go far enough. But that's not what the debate was about at all. You had a bunch of bizarrely clueless Senators, many of whom insisted they were against the act because it would take the bulk collection out of the hands of the NSA and put it into the hands of the telcos -- with the claim being that the NSA could keep that data safer. Senators Susan Collins and Saxby Chambliss kept harping on that point. But it's flat out wrong. Because the whole point of this is that the telcos already have this data.
As Techdirt notes, moving data collection to the telcos is somewhat irrelevant, given that the line between companies like the NSA and intelligence organizations was effectively obliterated years ago, when telcos began offering up wholesale access to live fiber splits. Two of four phone providers recently asked if they'd be ok with storing this data already said they do so (likely Verizon and AT&T). Meanwhile, concerns about ISIL (ISIS) were also used to stoke fear and justify keeping the hoovering of citizen information in place.

Boing Boing has a blog post listing the lawmakers that beat back the only meaningful effort to rein in the NSA's power this year. The battle isn't over. Next June, the legal justifications allowing broad metadata collection buried in the Patriot Act will expire, requiring new legislation if the NSA wants to continue on their current trajectory.

Most recommended from 47 comments


quisp65
join:2003-05-03
San Diego, CA

2 recommendations

quisp65

Member

The bill would have extended the Patriot Act till 2017

The bill would have extended the Patriot Act till 2017. The reform bill was voted down saying it didn't go far enough, so now it has to be reworked. They have to pass something or let the Patriot Act die.

Not understanding the criticism. Does BBR and the people that called them traitors want the Patriot Act with less reform?