The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would extend a controversial government spying power known as "Section 702" for another six years—without new privacy safeguards that had been sought by civil liberties groups.
Debate over the legislation now shifts over to the Senate, where it faces a filibuster threat from both Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
"If this Section 702 bill comes to the Senate, I will filibuster it," Wyden wrote in a tweet shortly after the House bill passed.
Wyden opposes the legislation because he believes that it offers too few protections for Americans' privacy rights. The powers granted by Section 702 are only supposed to be used against foreigners on foreign soil. But an American's communications can get swept up in the NSA's surveillance dragnet if they communicate with people overseas. Privacy advocates have championed an amendment to impose new privacy safeguards on the use of Section 702. But it was voted down by the House on Thursday.
[...] There isn't much time for the Senate to act. Section 702 expires on January 19, a little more than a week away.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 12 2018, @08:30PM (1 child)
It is amusing that people are more outraged about spying on Trump's campaign than on their own personal lives. #WTF
(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 14 2018, @01:57AM
They spied on my son! And they set him up. Let me tell you, I have a son, Don Jr. My son is a wonderful young man (age 39). He's a good boy. He's a good kid. But the Dems set him up. Don Jr., as you know, took a meeting with a Russian lawyer -- not a government lawyer but a Russian lawyer. With Natalia V. from Russia, the one with the long name. Now the lawyer that went to the meeting, I see that she was in the halls of Congress also. Somebody said that her visa or her passport to come into the country was approved by Attorney General Lynch. Now, maybe that's wrong, but I was a little surprised to hear that she was here because of Lynch.