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[20200514_131223 UTC: Updated to add links from original source.--martyb]
The US Senate voted down an amendment to the USA Patriot Act on Wednesday that would create a tougher standard for government investigators to collect the web search and browsing histories of people in the states. The bipartisan amendment, proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, a Republican, would've required the Department of Justice to show probable cause when requesting approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect the data for counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigations.
Later Wednesday, the Senate voted to approve a separate bipartisan amendment that would expand a program that reviews some FISA Court requests and provides advice to judges on privacy and civil liberties concerns.
Before the vote on the browsing history issue, Daines told the Senate the bill was necessary to keep the government from intruding into the most sensitive information of internet users in the US. "If you want to see an American's search history, then you better go to a judge and get a warrant," he said.
The amendment required 60 votes to pass and failed with a final tally of 59 ayes and 37 nays. A separate amendment drafted by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican, would expressly allow the collection of web search and browsing data under section 215 of the Patriot Act, which doesn't require that investigators show probable cause. The Wyden-Daines amendment, by contrast, would've given government the ability to request the data under a separate part of the law, Title I, which does require probable cause.
Senate rejects tougher standards for collection of search and browsing dat
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 14 2020, @12:59AM (17 children)
Yep, you guessed it, the honorable Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday May 14 2020, @01:19AM (1 child)
Didn't know he was still alive
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:11AM
Braindead doesn't count, the heart has to stop before he gets a death certificate.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:52AM (14 children)
So a Republican introduces legislation allowing your spies to spy on everyone with no oversight, and that's Bernies' fault?
Weird.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @04:03AM (10 children)
There are interesting names that voted against this amendment. There are plenty of names on both sides of this one. For the record, S. 3242 votes that weren't Yea:
NAYs ---37
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Capito (R-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Collins (R-ME)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Graham (R-SC)
Hassan (D-NH)
Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Johnson (R-WI)
Jones (D-AL)
Kaine (D-VA)
Lankford (R-OK)
Manchin (D-WV)
McConnell (R-KY)
Perdue (R-GA)
Portman (R-OH)
Roberts (R-KS)
Romney (R-UT)
Rubio (R-FL)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Toomey (R-PA)
Warner (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Young (R-IN)
Not Voting - 4
Alexander (R-TN)
Murray (D-WA)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sasse (R-NE)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by captain normal on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:07AM (1 child)
Honestly I've long said (if not here then quite a few other places) Feinstein is a wolf wearing wool. When it comes down to it, she always votes in favor of her husbands business.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @06:06AM
She shit all over the marijuana laws they were trying to get passed, shit on the gays as much as she could and she's been dropping deuces on the rest of us in the decades since. Somebody needs to take out the trash, maybe on a certain anniversary...
(Score: 2) by Tokolosh on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:09PM
Who is loving the Deep State now?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Aegis on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:34PM (5 children)
So, 73% of the bend over and take it crowd were Republican.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:58PM (4 children)
It could be Republicans hungry for revenge, who seek to abuse those laws against the Dems as a big "fuck you" to the past 4 years.
And of course that is definitely wrong, but I think it would be temporarily okay to start taking those fuckers down. The past 4 years proved that they certainly deserve it.
(Score: 3, Touché) by helel on Thursday May 14 2020, @09:41PM (2 children)
Revenge for what, four years of republican rule?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 14 2020, @10:04PM (1 child)
For stonewalling the living fuck out of Trump's popular agenda with sham legal proceedings.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by helel on Thursday May 14 2020, @11:34PM
Could you give some examples? All the major filibusters, refusals to pass or even schedule standard legislation like the budget or judicial appointments, and general stonewalling I recall in recent years was done by republicans. Heck, even the repeal of the Affordable Care Act was stonewalled by Mitch McConnell.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday May 15 2020, @12:56AM
That is a seriously stupid way to run a country, if it's true.
But of course, it's not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @08:15PM
scum.
(Score: 0, Troll) by fustakrakich on Thursday May 14 2020, @03:03PM (2 children)
Yeah, it is when he doesn't show up to stop it. He may as well have introduced it himself. These people being what they are, it was probably prearranged. The bickering amongst them is pure theatrics for the tabloids.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Friday May 15 2020, @12:52AM (1 child)
As noted above, 2 Republicans also didn't vote, but somehow Bernie gets singled out.
OK then.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday May 15 2020, @02:07AM
Because we already know how worthless the republicans are. We expect more from the democrats, who are always yapping about civil rights, but never show up when needed.
So, I guess you're right. We shouldn't expect anything out of Sanders either.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Kell on Thursday May 14 2020, @01:07AM (2 children)
Remember when the PATRIOT act was only going to be a time-limited set of powers used to bring bad-guys to justice with a set renewal period? Yeah? Hard to remember that it wasn't ever supposed to be business-as-usual for the US government. Today's 'emergency measures' are tomorrow's status quo. Be careful of the powers you (yes you, US voter) grant your government.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @01:47PM (1 child)
Well to be fair it was years in the making and brought out for an emergency rubber stamp after 911. Never waste a crisis. Which brings us to COVID-19...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @07:37PM
The only thing more permanent than a temporary workaround is a temporary expansion of government power.
(Score: 2) by AssCork on Thursday May 14 2020, @01:29AM (6 children)
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:05AM (1 child)
It's a gerontocracy run by a bunch of senile old fools. Just wait a few years until they start dropping, and then the only box you'll have to worry about is the coffin box.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday May 14 2020, @08:21AM
Great. Just... what if you (along many others) start to drop earlier than that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:13AM (2 children)
All of the first three are in use now, of course. Not enough, maybe, but all three are currently in use.
It seems that some people are testing to see how far they can push things before the ammo boxes come into use.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @03:45AM (1 child)
Loser politics is losing. So of course you're gonna shoot some shit up...
Except you're not. Because all you do is complain about shit on the internet.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday May 15 2020, @04:12AM
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_power_grows_out_of_the_barrel_of_a_gun [wikipedia.org]
You need to understand that simple fact, before you can hope to understand politics. The principle applies from your hometown mayor and police department, right on up into global politics. He who has the guns calls the shots. He who has no guns obeys, or dies.
And, we have arrived at the concept of "All gun control laws in the United States are racial in nature." Put the quoted text into a search box, and see what you find. And, THAT is why the DNC hates guns - they hate blacks.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:36AM
Ballot box coming up soon. The entire house is up for reelection. And regardless of the gerrymandering bullshit, it would be interesting if 95% didn't vote for the incumbent DNC/GOP. Don't blame the system just because everybody is looking for a cut
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:50AM (1 child)
...drafted by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, a
Republicancartoon villain.There, fixed.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday May 14 2020, @03:20AM
yertle?
sheesh.
that guy is a piece of work.
(is that the right phrase for son of a bitch? I think so)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:54AM (5 children)
Making America Great (for spooks) Again.
The noted Libertarian Ron Wyden [wikipedia.org] is working hard to stop government overreach, Whereas that authoritarian Democrat Mitch McConnell [wikipedia.org] is taking away all our rights.
That's why we need strong Libertarian leadership!
Oh, wait...
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Thursday May 14 2020, @03:08AM (4 children)
Oh, wait what? Neither Wyden or McConnell is Libertarian.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:28AM (1 child)
Trump is. Look, he's "everybody for himself, everything for myself", you don't get more libertarian than this.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 14 2020, @02:41PM
After he helped spend over $3 trillion which used to be your money. You can get more libertarian than that.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday May 15 2020, @04:59AM (1 child)
Correct, but only Wyden will admit to that!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 15 2020, @03:43PM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ilPapa on Thursday May 14 2020, @03:18AM (8 children)
Remember this next time you're about to proclaim, "both sides are equally bad".
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @04:34AM
You're literally retarded.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday May 14 2020, @05:25AM (1 child)
I'm a lot less concerned about what the government is scooping up than I am about what personal information large corporations are sucking up. Not only Google, but Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, the big ISPs, etc not to mention the Russian Mobsters and the Saudi Royal Court..
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @01:54PM
Who are their biggest customers?
It does matter which entity collects it law enforcement can click a mouse and wave some free money and trawl your eternally recorded history.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @08:18PM
what a stupid bitch.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @08:34PM
both sides are a mousetrap leading to two different tunnels for poison.
and the idiots take the cheese by believing in one or the other.
what they don't want you talking about is OTHER PARTIES and OTHER PEOPLE WHO WANT TO RUN OUTSIDE OF THE TWO PARTY GANG BANG.
(Score: 2) by DeVilla on Friday May 15 2020, @04:04AM (2 children)
I still feel both sides are fairly equally bad, just on separate topics. This one is a bad one for the Republicans. The Democrats have their own poor areas. I'm tired of voting for either in national elections.
Also, if this were really a flagship issue for the Democrats, I don't think we'd expect to find Feinstein on the list. The representatives aren't representing the masses any more. This is where I'd go off rambling about the need for something better than first-past-the-post ballots, but I'm not in the mood to write a wall of text. It's late and I want to fall asleep binge watching something tonight.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Friday May 15 2020, @02:06PM (1 child)
How's that moral equivalence working out for you?
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by DeVilla on Friday May 15 2020, @03:43PM
With regards to this story? Not much worse than when the candidate who was supposed to end warrant-less wiretaps and prosecute those involved turned into the biggest defender of those programs, growing them under his second term.
Yes, this latest development sucks. Yes this is an issue that the Republican say considerably worse things about. Almost funny considering their current complaints that Trump was illegally spied on when he was running for office.
But I have no faith that anyone who could get elected into a position that mattered would truly fix this. Use it to push for your team if you like. I'll believe they'll do about this when they actually do something better about this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2020, @08:35PM
enjoy the encryption!