Congress Voting On Amendment to Defund NSA Domestic Spying Tomorrow

[ElNono]

"It's been just over a month since the NSA's dragnet surveillance program was leaked to the public. Tomorrow, Congress is voting on an amendment that would block funding for NSA programs that collect the call records of innocent Americans. A win tomorrow may start a chain reaction — but it won't happen unless we speak up. We have one day to convince Congress to act (http://defundthensa.com/)."

The EFF is urging U.S. citizens to call their representatives (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/07/tomorrow-congress-votes-amendment-defund-spying-heres-how-you-can-help), noting that there is no time for email to be effective (find your representative (http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/)). You can read the amendment (https://www.eff.org/document/amash-conyers-amendment-2013) on the EFF site, quoting the EFF: "Reps. Justin Amash, John Conyers, Jr., Thomas Massie, Mick Mulvaney, and Jared Polis are proposing an amendment that would curtail funding for the implementation of orders under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act unless the order is explicitly limited in scope. ... Even as the Amash/Conyers Amendment is gaining momentum, some are rallying around a decoy amendment (https://www.eff.org/document/nugent-amendment) that would do nothing to rein in domestic surveillance. That amendment, championed by Rep. Nugent, would not alter in any way the government's use of Section 215 to obtain bulk communications records on millions of Americans. EFF is urging Representatives to oppose the Nugent Amendment."

[Wild Cobra]

Why bother?

Comrade Obama will veto it.

[admiralsnackbar]

Why bother?

Comrade Obama will veto it.

Wow! We finally agree on something, WC! :lol

I think Obama would only support this at the end of his term as a legacy-minded action, and only when he felt he could get to the end of his service without a major terrorist/criminal/what-have-you incident.

[boutons_deux]

The police/surveillance state, the corporate MIC are out of control of intimidated, corrupted politicians and tv-watching civilians, are unstoppable.

OBL is laughing his ass off at how he single-handedly got America to fuck itself more than he could ever imagine.

[admiralsnackbar]

The police/surveillance state, the corporate MIC are out of control of intimidated, corrupted politicians and tv-watching civilians, are unstoppable.

OBL is laughing his ass off at how he single-handedly got America to fuck itself more than he could ever imagine.

It's a miracle! I completely agree with you, too, boutons! :lol

[ElNono]

Why bother?

Comrade Obama will veto it.

He has to veto the entire Defense budget... unlikely to say the least.

[Th'Pusher]

The ammendment has no chance of passing but I am interested to see who votes for and against it.

[boutons_deux]

Feds put heat on Web firms for master encryption keys


Whether the FBI and NSA have the legal authority to obtain the master keys that companies use for Web encryption remains an open question, but it hasn't stopped the U.S. government from trying

The U.S. government has attempted to obtain the master encryption keys that Internet companies use to shield millions of users' private Web communications from eavesdropping.

These demands for master encryption keys (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57591560-38/facebooks-outmoded-web-crypto-opens-door-to-nsa-spying/), which have not been disclosed previously, represent a technological escalation in the clandestine methods that the FBI and the National Security Agency employ when conducting electronic surveillance against Internet users.

If the government obtains a company's master encryption key, agents could decrypt the contents of communications intercepted through a wiretap or by invoking the potent surveillance authorities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57588337-38/no-evidence-of-nsas-direct-access-to-tech-companies/). Web encryption -- which often appears in a browser with a HTTPS lock icon when enabled -- uses a technique called SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer.

"The government is definitely demanding SSL keys from providers," said one person who has responded to government attempts to obtain encryption keys. The source spoke with CNET on condition of anonymity.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57595202-38/feds-put-heat-on-web-firms-for-master-encryption-keys/?tag=nl.e703&s_cid=e703&ttag=e703&ftag=

[dbestpro]

The government, if it keeps this pace, will turn the back guys into cult heros at some point in the near future.

[coyotes_geek]

I'm pretty sure the NSA already knows how the vote will turn out.

[Clipper Nation]

It got voted down, 215-207....

[ElNono]

I'm pretty sure the NSA already knows how the vote will turn out.

:lol

[ElNono]

http://i41.tinypic.com/znngcx.jpg

[ElNono]

roll call
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll412.xml

[Th'Pusher]

Surprised the vote was that close tbh.

[angrydude]

Well, at least we now have a definitive list of who the traitors are in Congress

[Chomag]

Well, at least we now have a definitive list of who the traitors are in Congress

All of them.

[Wild Cobra]

Surprised the vote was that close tbh.

Why?

There are authoritarians on both sides who see us as their sheep.

[Wild Cobra]

All of them.

At least my representative voted YES. He was also the only democrat I voted for.

[Clipper Nation]

The police/surveillance state, the corporate MIC are out of control of intimidated, corrupted politicians and tv-watching civilians, are unstoppable.
Correction: it's "unstoppable" to you when blue team's in charge, but it's all red team's fault when they're in charge....

[Th'Pusher]

Why?

There are authoritarians on both sides who see us as their sheep.

Ah. A rare sighting of the bipartisan WC. He only comes out when he disagrees with the majority of red team to point out that there are bad blue teamers too.

[boutons_deux]

Correction: it's "unstoppable" to you when blue team's in charge, but it's all red team's fault when they're in charge....

unstoppable no matter which party is in office, GFY

[Halberto]

Correction: it's "unstoppable" to you when blue team's in charge, but it's all red team's fault when they're in charge....

:lol

You simple minded fuck

[boutons_deux]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/KeystoneKops.jpg

the big defense was that the NSA/CIA/FBI (aka Keystone Kops) pervasive surveillance/police state has saved 1000s of Americans lives (oops, except for Boston Marathon, even after Russia gave hints! :lol )

[TeyshaBlue]

Correction: it's "unstoppable" to you when blue team's in charge, but it's all red team's fault when they're in charge....

lol boutons

[Winehole23]

knock on: http://news.antiwar.com/2013/07/25/rep-holt-introduces-surveillance-state-repeal-act/

[boutons_deux]

unstoppable:

Roberts’s Picks Reshaping Secret Surveillance Court

In making assignments to the court, Chief Justice Roberts, more than his predecessors, has chosen judges with conservative and executive branch backgrounds that critics say make the court more likely to defer to government arguments that domestic spying programs are necessary.


Ten of the court’s 11 judges — all assigned by Chief Justice Roberts — were appointed to the bench by Republican presidents; six once worked for the federal government. Since the chief justice began making assignments in 2005, 86 percent of his choices have been Republican appointees, and 50 percent have been former executive branch officials.

Though the two previous chief justices, Warren E. Burger and William H. Rehnquist, were conservatives like Chief Justice Roberts, their assignments to the surveillance court were more ideologically diverse, according to an analysis by The New York Times of a list of every judge (http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/727664-fisc-fiscr-members-1978-2013.html) who has served on the court since it was established in 1978.

The court’s complexion has changed at a time when its role has been expanding beyond what Congress envisioned when it established the court as part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

But, increasingly in recent years, the court has produced lengthy rulings interpreting the meaning of surveillance laws and constitutional rights (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/in-secret-court-vastly-broadens-powers-of-nsa.html) based on procedures devised not for complex legal analysis but for up-or-down approvals of secret wiretap applications. The rulings are classified and based on theories submitted by the Justice Department without the participation of any lawyers offering contrary arguments or appealing a ruling if the government wins.

The court “is becoming ever more important in American life as more and more surveillance comes under its review in this era of big data,”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/us/politics/robertss-picks-reshaping-secret-surveillance-court.html?from=homepage

So, how you assholes gonna "stop" anything that's truly unstoppable?

[boutons_deux]

here's a dreamer. gonna be stopped before it's ever started

Rep. Holt Introduces ‘Surveillance State Repeal Act’ (http://news.antiwar.com/2013/07/25/rep-holt-introduces-surveillance-state-repeal-act/)

Rep. Rush Holt (http://www.holt.house.gov/) (D-NJ) has introduced legislation (http://www.antiwar.com/docs5/HOLT_045_xml.pdf) to repeal federal surveillance laws that the government abused by collecting personal information on millions of Americans in violation of the Constitution, as revealed by a federal whistleblower and multiple media outlets last month.

"As we now know, the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been collecting the personal communications of literally millions of innocent Americans for no legitimate reason," said Holt. "Instead of using these powers to zero in on the tiny number of real terrorist threats we face, the executive branch turned these surveillance powers against the American people as a whole. My legislation would put a stop to that right now."

Holt’s bill, the "Surveillance State Repeal Act", would repeal the PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act, each of which contains provisions that allowed the dragnet surveillance

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/07/25/rep-holt-introduces-surveillance-state-repeal-act/ (http://news.antiwar.com/2013/07/25/rep-holt-introduces-surveillance-state-repeal-act/)

:lol

[Capt Bringdown]

From the wonderful woman who brought us Obamacare:


Hill sources say most of the credit for the [Amash] amendment’s defeat goes to someone else: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Ahead of the razor-thin 205-217 vote, which would have severely limited the NSA’s ability to collect data on Americans’ telephone records if passed, Pelosi privately and aggressively lobbied wayward Democrats to torpedo the amendment, a Democratic committee aid with knowledge of the deliberations tells The Cable.

“Pelosi had a big effect on more middle-of-the road hawkish Democrats who didn’t want to be identified with a bunch of lefties [voting for the amendment],” said the aide.
-- more -->> (http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/25/how_nancy_pelosi_saved_the_nsa_surveillance_progra m)

[TeyshaBlue]

Hey San Francisco, Your Rep. Pelosi Saved The NSA Phone Metadata Program

http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/26/hey-san-francisco-your-rep-pelosi-saved-the-nsa-phone-metadata-program/


."What is a liberal? A liberal cares for the poor, and the sick, and the hungry. A liberal cares about the government doing for the people what they cannot do for themselves, is what Lincoln said. A liberal seeks the truth and doesn't put the spin on anything and asks to look at the facts.

:lol

[ElNono]

Hey San Francisco, Your Rep. Pelosi Saved The NSA Phone Metadata Program

http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/26/hey-san-francisco-your-rep-pelosi-saved-the-nsa-phone-metadata-program/

:lol

I know... Bachman and Pelosi on the same side of the aisle... :lol

[scott]

At least the Nay's had the balls to vote Nay, unlike the cowards to afraid to cast a vote at all. Present Not Voting on this? C'mon...

[TeyshaBlue]

At least the Nay's had the balls to vote Nay, unlike the cowards to afraid to cast a vote at all. Present Not Voting on this? C'mon...

zactly.

[TeyshaBlue]

They should have to sit at the kids table in the senate cafeteria.

[boutons_deux]

American views of surveillance depend heavily on precise question

What do Americans think of government snooping into telephone and Internet data? The answer depends very heavily on precisely what is asked.

The Pew Research Center ran an experiment this month (http://www.people-press.org/2013/07/26/government-surveillance-a-question-wording-experiment/) to find out how much the wording of questions would affect public attitudes toward the widely discussed data-collection operations of the National Security Agency. Pollsters asked 2,002 American adults a set of questions about the issue, splitting them into several groups, each of which got a slightly different question.

Pollsters asked one group whether they “would favor or oppose the government collecting data, such as date, time and phone numbers, from nearly all phone calls made in the U.S., with court approval as part of anti-terrorism efforts.”

A second group got the same basic question, but without the reference to “court approval.” Another group got the question, but without the reference to “anti-terrorism efforts.”

For another group, the pollsters asked not about collecting “data, such as date, time and phone numbers,” but “recordings of nearly all phone calls.” A parallel set of questions asked about collecting data or contents of emails, rather than telephone calls.

The results suggest that Americans retain a great deal of faith in their court system. Support for the hypothetical program was significantly higher when the question included the reference to “court approval.” The approval of a court mattered even more than the idea that the information dragnet was “part of anti-terrorism efforts,” a phrase that also mattered significantly.


The distinction between email and telephone calls made little difference.

Overall, support for the hypothetical program ranged from 41% when it was described as data collection with court approval and as part of an anti-terrorism effort down to 16% when the question asked about recordings of calls and did not mention either terrorism or judicial scrutiny.

One other important word: “would.”
These questions all asked people “would you favor” a hypothetical program. At about the same time, Pew was running a separate survey (http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-pn-antiterror-programs-poll-20130726,0,7973613.story) asking people “do you favor” the government’s existing collection efforts. In that survey, 50% said yes.

The results suggest that Americans are at least somewhat more likely to approve of something the government is already doing than of a hypothetical thing the government might do in the future -- a finding that may have implications considerably beyond data surveillance.

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-76809967/

So it looks like no politician will get punished by the sheeple for voting to continue police state surveillance. What time are The Kardashians on?

[Winehole23]

the best predictor wasn't party affiliation, but defense contractor contributions: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/money-nsa-vote/

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

They should have to sit at the kids table in the senate cafeteria.

Pretty sure that's where they all sit, tbh.

[Winehole23]

http://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-says-it-cant-search-own-emails

[Winehole23]

http://www.dailydot.com/news/fairview-prism-blarney-nsa-internet-spying-projects/

[boutons_deux]

http://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-says-it-cant-search-own-emails

yeah, right, the NSA is telling us they are so incompent (harmless) that the can't even monitor themselves, never mind Americans. Maybe that's why they totally missed the highly suspicious Chechen-visiting, Russia-suspected, Chechen Boston bombers.

[boutons_deux]

NSA/CIA/FBI could have allowed the Boston bombing so now they can say "If you don't want more of these, you better not even think about putting any limits on us or our budgets"

Sorta like the Repugs allowing 9/11 so they could have pretext to invade Iraq for oil.

[boutons_deux]

http://rt.com/files/news/1f/e2/20/00/army-raytheon-jlens-blimps-.si.jpg


Pentagon to deploy huge blimps over Washington, DC for 360-degree surveillanceA pair of high-tech Army blimps is coming to the greater Washington, DC area, and soon they will be able to provide the military with surveillance powers that spans hundreds of millions of acres from North Carolina to Niagara Falls, Canada.

The airships are part of Raytheon’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and when all is said and done they’ll offer the United States military what the defense contractor calls “an affordable elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system” that relies on “a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats.”

Raytheon has just wrapped up a six-week testing period in the state of Utah and is now sending its JLENS fleet to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Once there, the Army intends to get some hands-on experience that will eventually culminate in launching the pair of airships over Washington, DC.

http://rt.com/usa/army-raytheon-jlens-blimps-594/

[Nbadan]

I wonder how many of these congressmen who voted against this amendment will be re-elected on their next cycle?

[Nbadan]

eh. meanwhile...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUoq1BUiAgU#at=49