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Apr 21 15 5:58 PM
Goodlatte talks NSA program in Amherst County stop
The effort to end government’s mass collection of phone records and other data will return this week as the House Judiciary Committee prepares to take up the issue. U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, committee chairman, said the panel will be marking up a bill this week to ban the bulk collection of metadata — a National Security Agency program revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden. “It’s crucial that government get access to the right information at the right time, but they should do it through the right process that protects Americans’ civil liberties,” Goodlatte, R-6th, said Monday during a stop in Amherst County. The proposal, introduced in the last Congress as the USA Freedom Act, was passed by the House of Representatives last year but stalled in the Senate in the face of GOP-led opposition. The issue is returning with a deadline as the law authorizing the program will expire June 1. The reform bill was supported by the Obama administration, but opposed by those who feared it would undermine counterterrorism efforts.
The effort to end government’s mass collection of phone records and other data will return this week as the House Judiciary Committee prepares to take up the issue.
U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, committee chairman, said the panel will be marking up a bill this week to ban the bulk collection of metadata — a National Security Agency program revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden.
“It’s crucial that government get access to the right information at the right time, but they should do it through the right process that protects Americans’ civil liberties,” Goodlatte, R-6th, said Monday during a stop in Amherst County.
The proposal, introduced in the last Congress as the USA Freedom Act, was passed by the House of Representatives last year but stalled in the Senate in the face of GOP-led opposition.
The issue is returning with a deadline as the law authorizing the program will expire June 1. The reform bill was supported by the Obama administration, but opposed by those who feared it would undermine counterterrorism efforts.
Read more @ http://www.newsadvance.com/new_era_progress/news/goodlatte-makes-stop-in-amherst-county-talks-about-nsa-program/article_55fcd438-e7be-11e4-a0cf-af879e1f35cf.html
America’s modern history is now defined as pre/post 9/11, a terrible day that rocked Americans and thrust the country into a perpetual “war on terror.” But with the permanent war footing came a highly secretive world of espionage tactics that threatens to throw civil rights out the window. The intrigues of the clandestine world eventually spawned surveillance whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who spoke-out against a repressive US government bent on obstructing the very fabric of our Constitution. Henceforth, this new millennial era will view individual rights in a pre/post Snowden lens. Case in point surrounds new revelations about an invasive surveillance program known as “Stingray” boxes. They trick cell phone towers to divert mobile calls of targeted individuals to the Stingray box allowing law enforcement to record and track suspects’ location. The trouble is two-fold, first the device can capture any cell phone’s users in the vicinity of the target and two, the targeting isn’t always subject to warrants issued by judges. This week the San Diego Police Department acknowledged to this reporter that it owns and uses the “Stingray” technology. The police department released a heavily redacted Purchase Order from the Harris Corp, the company who originally created the surveillance box for the CIA and US military to track terrorists worldwide. The pricy equipment costs the law enforcement community somewhere around $400,000.
America’s modern history is now defined as pre/post 9/11, a terrible day that rocked Americans and thrust the country into a perpetual “war on terror.” But with the permanent war footing came a highly secretive world of espionage tactics that threatens to throw civil rights out the window. The intrigues of the clandestine world eventually spawned surveillance whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who spoke-out against a repressive US government bent on obstructing the very fabric of our Constitution. Henceforth, this new millennial era will view individual rights in a pre/post Snowden lens.
Case in point surrounds new revelations about an invasive surveillance program known as “Stingray” boxes. They trick cell phone towers to divert mobile calls of targeted individuals to the Stingray box allowing law enforcement to record and track suspects’ location. The trouble is two-fold, first the device can capture any cell phone’s users in the vicinity of the target and two, the targeting isn’t always subject to warrants issued by judges.
This week the San Diego Police Department acknowledged to this reporter that it owns and uses the “Stingray” technology. The police department released a heavily redacted Purchase Order from the Harris Corp, the company who originally created the surveillance box for the CIA and US military to track terrorists worldwide. The pricy equipment costs the law enforcement community somewhere around $400,000.
Read more @ http://www.examiner.com/article/san-diego-police-acknowledge-stingray-cell-phone-spying
There is a fundamental tension within the national dialog regarding government surveillance: To accurately and adequately address many of the specific National Security Agency programs revealed as part of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s now-(in)famous document leaks, a person would need years of advanced expertise in some of the most complex information architecture ever assembled. Put simply, while the implications and effects of the now-public NSA surveillance programs can and should be debated by everyone they affect, the technical specifics therein are a bridge too far for many. When it comes to our privacy—one of the defining issues of the digital age—most people simply lack the requisite vocabulary to fully explore the extraordinarily complex features of an issue for which technical complexity is a sin-qua-non. It’s that inherent tension which Last Week Tonight host John Oliver addressed during his surprise (as in, even Oliver seemed surprised it was happening) sit down with Edward Snowden, himself. There, the comedian and the whistleblower/leaker/hero/traitor discussed the challenge of holding a substantive debate on a subject for which the very complexities that render it important also render it inaccessible to many. Oliver, to his credit, did not go easy on Snowden, posing tough questions regarding the moral implications of leaking state secrets, and asking how to weigh the benefits of the programs exposed against their implied costs. Then, in an effort to frame the debate over government surveilance and privacy in terms most people, regardless of technical expertise, can understand, Oliver zeroed in on what seems, at this point, to be a universal truth: People absolutely do not want the government looking at their dick pics. Given the visceral reaction against governmental overreach into the field of dick pics, web designer and software engineer Oliver Lacan this week unleashed upon the world cantheyseemydick.com. The site is a simple companion to Oliver and Snowden’s conversation, and outlines the various NSA programs and methods by which government agents and contractors can legally see that dick pic you just sent or received. Lacan, the site explains “cares about security and privacy and the freedom for everyone to send dick pictures as long as the recipient is cool with it.”
There is a fundamental tension within the national dialog regarding government surveillance: To accurately and adequately address many of the specific National Security Agency programs revealed as part of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s now-(in)famous document leaks, a person would need years of advanced expertise in some of the most complex information architecture ever assembled. Put simply, while the implications and effects of the now-public NSA surveillance programs can and should be debated by everyone they affect, the technical specifics therein are a bridge too far for many. When it comes to our privacy—one of the defining issues of the digital age—most people simply lack the requisite vocabulary to fully explore the extraordinarily complex features of an issue for which technical complexity is a sin-qua-non.
It’s that inherent tension which Last Week Tonight host John Oliver addressed during his surprise (as in, even Oliver seemed surprised it was happening) sit down with Edward Snowden, himself. There, the comedian and the whistleblower/leaker/hero/traitor discussed the challenge of holding a substantive debate on a subject for which the very complexities that render it important also render it inaccessible to many. Oliver, to his credit, did not go easy on Snowden, posing tough questions regarding the moral implications of leaking state secrets, and asking how to weigh the benefits of the programs exposed against their implied costs. Then, in an effort to frame the debate over government surveilance and privacy in terms most people, regardless of technical expertise, can understand, Oliver zeroed in on what seems, at this point, to be a universal truth:
People absolutely do not want the government looking at their dick pics.
Given the visceral reaction against governmental overreach into the field of dick pics, web designer and software engineer Oliver Lacan this week unleashed upon the world cantheyseemydick.com. The site is a simple companion to Oliver and Snowden’s conversation, and outlines the various NSA programs and methods by which government agents and contractors can legally see that dick pic you just sent or received. Lacan, the site explains “cares about security and privacy and the freedom for everyone to send dick pictures as long as the recipient is cool with it.”
Read more @ http://magazine.good.is/articles/well-can-they
Law360, Washington (April 16, 2015, 5:44 PM ET) -- Groups representing Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and other major technology companies said surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act have hurt the reputations of American companies abroad, in a Wednesday letter addressed to congressional leaders. The letter from The Internet Association, the Information Technology Industry Council and several others said Hill leadership should take steps to end bulk data collection by the National Security Agency and to increase government transparency and accountability surrounding the programs under the act. The letter was posted on posted on BSA The Software Alliance’s website. “U.S. technology providers continue to face concerns from global customers regarding the safety and security of their offerings,” the letter said. “In fact, foreign competitors and foreign governments regularly seize on this opportunity to challenge U.S. technological leadership by raising questions about our nation’s surveillance regime.” International competitors have seized on the revelations of U.S. spying by whistleblower Edward Snowden to question the security and privacy of U.S. products, according to the letter. To stop a slide in America’s technological advantages, the groups said Congress should revise the provision that allows for bulk data collection, Section 215, which is set to expire in June.
Read more @ http://www.law360.com/aerospace/articles/644130/patriot-act-spying-hurts-int-l-trade-tech-groups-say
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