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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The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to give Wikimedia a chance to legally challenge the NSA's mass surveillance as being unconstitutional. The government has previously argued that the NSA's Upstream warrantless spying is authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. [...]
The ruling yesterday reversed a lower court's ruling which found Wikimedia, which publishes the internet behemoth Wikipedia, couldn't prove the NSA's "Upstream" surveillance program was secretly monitoring its communications, vacuuming the communications right off the internet backbones – even with leaked Snowden documents showing Wikipedia as an NSA target.
[...] due to the sheer size of Wikimedia, the judges found that the NSA probably had seized at least some of their communications.
—Computerworld (hyperlinks in original)
"Wikimedia has plausibly alleged that its communications travel all of the roads that a communication can take, and that the NSA seizes all of the communications along at least one of those roads," U.S. Circuit Judge Albert Diaz wrote. "Thus, at least at this stage of the litigation, Wikimedia has standing to sue for a violation of the Fourth Amendment. And, because Wikimedia has self-censored its speech and sometimes forgone electronic communications in response to Upstream surveillance, it also has standing to sue for a violation of the First Amendment."
Further reading:
Wikipedia article on Upstream
Wikipedia article on Albert Diaz
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @05:12AM (2 children)
Oh, fuck it! And fuck all of you!
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by takyon on Tuesday March 14 2017, @05:53AM (1 child)
I expect way more from a violently imposed monopoly. I expect, nay demand, 100% of Americans to be caught in the surveillance dragnet!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by c0lo on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:23AM
Between us... your wish is granted.
Just keep it low, don't tell the Congress... yet, mkay?
Yours,
a violently imposed monopoly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:33AM (1 child)
Stupid spies.. they need to make it mandatory tenure to work in the commercial/private sector where bullshit stats to wiggle out of scrutiny is basic requirement for moving up the corporate ladder. The answer to congress should be "Between 1% to 101%"
1 of those 2 sentences above is a joke.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:41AM
The best amount. Unbelievably good amounts. Believe me. See how it's done?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:36AM
Unlimited black budget.
What could possibly go wrong?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:54AM (1 child)
I know one orange-american who was caught up in the dragnet.
They recorded him on the camera in his own microwave!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @08:20AM
That's God-Emperor Orange the Eternal, blessed is HIS name. Report yourself to the nearest reeducation chamber for your scheduled Patriotism Audit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @08:25AM
No data - no renewal. Trial 'em all for treason after that.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stormreaver on Tuesday March 14 2017, @10:41AM (3 children)
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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14 2017, @01:03PM
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)
(Score: 3, Informative) by stormreaver on Wednesday March 15 2017, @06:51PM
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.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Tuesday March 14 2017, @06:28PM
The land of the fucked, home of the shorn.
Big brother is fucking you.
Too bad Canada is such a close neighbour: we hate your sloppy seconds.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---