Senators Wyden And Udall Pledge To Strengthen USA Freedom Act By Closing Surveillance Backdoor

from the that-would-be-good dept

Tue, Jul 29th 2014 2:11pm — Mike Masnick

By now, it should be well known that Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall are the two key truth-tellers in Congress when it comes to what kind of surveillance is being done by the intelligence community. If they ask a question, assume the answer is "yes." With the introduction of the new USA Freedom Act in the Senate, we noted that, while it does take a big step forward, there is a lot more that can be done. Wyden and Udall have released a statement noting that they plan to seek to strengthen the bill with an amendment to close the backdoor search "loophole" which is used by the entire intelligence community to spy on Americans. It's unfortunate that Leahy didn't include that in the original bill -- and it suggests that there might not (yet) be enough support to close the backdoor. But this is a massively important issue -- as Wyden and Udall have been pointing out for quite some time now. Hopefully, enough noise can be made that this important change is added to the bill.

Filed Under: backdoor searches, mark udall, privacy, ron wyden, section 702, surveillance, usa freedom act

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Joe Shades (profile), 29 Jul 2014 @ 2:36pm

Terrific but has no chance of passing
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2014 @ 3:05pm

I'd probably vote for either of these guys or both as Pres and Vice.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2014 @ 3:14pm

Response to: Joe Shades on Jul 29th, 2014 @ 2:36pm
Good thing EFF us challenging the search+seizure in court eh?
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2014 @ 3:32pm

I guess it's back to going somewhere else for a while until comment moderation is again removed. Cya later.
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Kronomex, 29 Jul 2014 @ 4:04pm

There will a great wailing and gnashing of FBI, CIA, NSA, and any other acronyms teeth that abound in the transparent government. Somehow I can't see this going through, but we can always hope.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2014 @ 4:41pm

Senator Udall is up for re-election this year. He's polling neck-and-neck with his opponent, a House Republican with no record on, or apparent interest in, anything to do with civil liberties, unless it's restricting women's reproductive rights.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2014 @ 5:05pm

Re:
Gardner is another tea bag moron with an ax to grind. He doesn't give a shit about the people of Colorado or the US of A
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Pixelation, 29 Jul 2014 @ 7:06pm

No fly
I'm sure Udall and Wyden are both on the terror watch list about now.
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Whatever (profile), 29 Jul 2014 @ 7:29pm

Good to see Senator Grandstand hard at work. :)

Seriously though, Wyden must be really low on political capital, because he keeps using every drop up on amendments and such that never seem to pass. Perhaps it reads well in a press release or bio page, but does it actually accomplish anything?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Jul 2014 @ 12:07am

Perhaps it reads well in a press release or bio page, but does it actually accomplish anything?
Good point. Anyone with any common sense knows that making minor tweaks and cosmetic changes to a system while ignoring huge structural flaws is the only real way to get things done.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Jul 2014 @ 12:37am

>USA Freedom Act
ahhaha
Cant wait to see the Eagle of Democracy Act which will make the elections more democratic by ensuring that third parties will never ever get near the voters.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Jul 2014 @ 2:13am

this will make a big difference in the USA but, because the UK which is a 'partner in crime' of the NSA, has just introduced a new law that removes everything from the people and gives everything to the surveillance state (GCHQ), all that will happen is that the UK will be doing the spying and handing stuff over to the USA. previously, it was more the other way round!
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Whatever (profile), 30 Jul 2014 @ 3:38am

Re:
Wow, talk about misrepresenting what I said.

It's about trying to do things when there are enough people on side to get them done. Just making a grand statement and submitting a resolution that has little hope of being passed doesn't change anything. In fact, it's the worst kind of political hot air, a time waster.

The truth of democracy is you get things done when the majority of people agree with you, not when you just piss into the wind.
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That One Guy (profile), 30 Jul 2014 @ 3:43am

Re:
As opposed to what, just ignoring the problem and hope it magically fixes itself?

If the attempted fixes 'don't go anywhere', blame the other cowardly senators who aren't willing to stand up for the people they are supposed to represent, not the people actually trying to address the problems and if not immediately fix entirely, at least start applying some patches to the more troublesome spots.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Jul 2014 @ 6:20pm

Re: Re:
Yup, don't even bother voicing your opinion or suggestions unless there is a clear majority supporting same .. how pathetic is that?
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GEMont (profile), 2 Aug 2014 @ 5:18pm

Re: Re:
The Truth of Capitalism, is you get things done when you pay enough money and favors to those who do things, period.

I'm afraid Capitalism easily trumps your Democracy, when it comes to getting things done.

Ask any lobbyist.
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