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posted by on Tuesday March 14 2017, @04:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the is-"all-of-them"-a-number? dept.

In 2013, a National Security Agency contractor named Edward Snowden revealed US surveillance programs that involved the massive and warrantless gathering of Americans' electronic communications. Two of the programs, called Upstream and Prism, are allowed under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That section expires at year's end, and President Donald Trump's administration, like his predecessor's administration, wants the law renewed so those snooping programs can continue.

That said, even as the administration seeks renewal of the programs, Congress and the public have been left in the dark regarding questions surrounding how many Americans' electronic communications have been ensnared under the programs. Congress won't be told in a classified setting either, despite repeated requests.

Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan and member of the House Judiciary Committee, told a panel hearing last week that Congress needed the numbers to help it decide whether to reauthorize the programs.

"The members of this committee and the public at large require that estimate to engage in a meaningful debate," he said.

This isn't the first time lawmakers have been stonewalled on the issue. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had asked for the information in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and he's renewing the request again. Despite the lack of information, Congress has repeatedly renewed the programs even before Snowden revealed them.

"I and other members of Congress have been seeking an answer to this question since 2011. We posed the question again in the context of the reauthorization of Section 702. It is now central to the debate this year over the reauthorization of the program, which you have described as your 'top legislative priority,'" Wyden wrote in a letter to Daniel Coats, Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence.

Source: ArsTechnica


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by stormreaver on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:41AM (3 children)

    by stormreaver (5101) on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:41AM (#478844)

    I and other members of Congress have been seeking an answer to this question since 2011.

    And since you, and other members of Congress, have continued to renew the law without this question being answered, you clearly don't care about the answer. This is corrupt political theater at its most obvious.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @01:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @01:03PM (#478889)

    It only gets renewed once every five years. Which means this is the first vote since snowden.

  • (Score: 2) by Murdoc on Wednesday March 15 2017, @05:37AM (1 child)

    by Murdoc (2518) on Wednesday March 15 2017, @05:37AM (#479287) Homepage
    Laws can be passed without the vote of one senator, you know. What's clear is that the majority of the senate doesn't care. Your statement doesn't hold regarding him personally. Or can you show us the record of votes to show that he did indeed vote to renew it?
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by stormreaver on Wednesday March 15 2017, @06:51PM

      by stormreaver (5101) on Wednesday March 15 2017, @06:51PM (#479530)

      Or can you show us the record of votes to show that he did indeed vote to renew it?

      After looking his FISA voting record, I found that my cynicism was misplaced. He did indeed twice vote against reauthorizing FISA. Once in 2008, and once in 2012 (I don't see a record for the vote I expected to see in 2016).

      It appears I owe Ron Wyden an apology.