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The NSA can't surveil Americans' every phone call – at least for now The NSA can't surveil Americans' every phone call – at least for now
(35 minutes later)
Today is a landmark day for Americans’ privacy: you can finally make a telephone call in the United States without the NSA automatically keeping a record of who you called, when, and for how long. It’s been more than a decade since that was the case. Now the only question is: will it last?Today is a landmark day for Americans’ privacy: you can finally make a telephone call in the United States without the NSA automatically keeping a record of who you called, when, and for how long. It’s been more than a decade since that was the case. Now the only question is: will it last?
After Senate voted down an extension of the Section 215 of the Patriot Act in a rare Sunday evening session, the dreaded law authorizing the mass surveillance of Americans expired at the first stroke of midnight and, with that stroke, one of the NSA’s most controversial and invasive surveillance program exposed by Edward Snowden was reportedly shut down. But what powers the NSA will have by the end of the week – the details of which is still up in the air and changing by the hour – is anyone’s guess. After the Senate voted down an extension of the Section 215 of the Patriot Act in a rare Sunday evening session, the dreaded law authorizing the mass surveillance of Americans expired at the first stroke of midnight and, with that stroke, one of the NSA’s most controversial and invasive surveillance program exposed by Edward Snowden was reportedly shut down. But what powers the NSA will have by the end of the week – the details of which is still up in the air and changing by the hour – is anyone’s guess.
Facing no other choice, the Senate also voted on Sunday night to move forward on the USA Freedom Act, the compromise-of-a-compromise NSA reform bill that will bring portions of the Patriot Act back from the dead, but will nonetheless permanently make end the NSA’s bulk records program as we know it ... at least, it will if it remains as it’s written now.Facing no other choice, the Senate also voted on Sunday night to move forward on the USA Freedom Act, the compromise-of-a-compromise NSA reform bill that will bring portions of the Patriot Act back from the dead, but will nonetheless permanently make end the NSA’s bulk records program as we know it ... at least, it will if it remains as it’s written now.
Related: A huge victory on mass surveillance for Snowden – and it’s not over yet | Ewen MacAskillRelated: A huge victory on mass surveillance for Snowden – and it’s not over yet | Ewen MacAskill
But Senators could now add amendments to the bill in an attempt to weaken its reforms out of existence, an opportunity that, due to procedural hurdles, they would not have had if they had passed it anytime in the last week. This normally would be a great opportunity to strengthen the bill’s many shortcomings – but given McConnell’s unquestioning loyalty to intelligence agencies who have repeatedly misled the public about their authority and their abuse of it, and the power he wields to force the vast majority of his party to vote along with him, anything could happen. But Senators could now add amendments to the bill in an attempt to weaken its reforms out of existence, an opportunity that, due to procedural hurdles, they would not have had if they had passed it anytime in the last week. This normally would be a great opportunity to strengthen the bill’s many shortcomings – but given Senator majority leader Mitch McConnell’s unquestioning loyalty to intelligence agencies who have repeatedly misled the public about their authority and their abuse of it, and the power he wields to force the vast majority of his party to vote along with him, anything could happen.
The rhetoric about the NSA in the last week from surveillance state supporters has been so dishonest, it’s bordered on farcical, so there’s not much hope that its defenders won’t simply plant an 11th-hour knife in the back of NSA reformers despite their apparently new-found willingness to pass the USA Freedom Act.The rhetoric about the NSA in the last week from surveillance state supporters has been so dishonest, it’s bordered on farcical, so there’s not much hope that its defenders won’t simply plant an 11th-hour knife in the back of NSA reformers despite their apparently new-found willingness to pass the USA Freedom Act.
The baseless fear-mongering by the Obama administration has been virtually indistinguishable from Dick Cheney’s old tricks, but it hit a new low on Sunday when CIA director John Brennan told CBS’s Face the Nation with a straight face that terrorists had “watched very carefully” what has happened in the Senate debate and were “looking for the seams to operate within.” Really? The terrorists have been binge-watching C-Span to see if the government will need to follow a slightly altered legal process to track their phone calls (which the government will get no matter what anyways)?The baseless fear-mongering by the Obama administration has been virtually indistinguishable from Dick Cheney’s old tricks, but it hit a new low on Sunday when CIA director John Brennan told CBS’s Face the Nation with a straight face that terrorists had “watched very carefully” what has happened in the Senate debate and were “looking for the seams to operate within.” Really? The terrorists have been binge-watching C-Span to see if the government will need to follow a slightly altered legal process to track their phone calls (which the government will get no matter what anyways)?
At the same time, surveillance supporters have been screaming from the rooftops that this  phone program is “keeping us safe” despite ample evidence showing that’s plainly not true. They refuse to acknowledge that the NSA itself has admitted the program has not stopped a single attack in its existence, and that the Justice Department confirmed the underlying law has been never been vital as well. Charlie Savage explained on Monday in the New York Times that the government will be able to obtain virtually all the information they received with Section 215 through many other laws.   At the same time, surveillance supporters have been screaming from the rooftops that this phone program is “keeping us safe” despite ample evidence showing that’s plainly not true. They refuse to acknowledge that the NSA itself has admitted the program has not stopped a single attack in its existence, and that the Justice Department confirmed the underlying law has been never been vital as well. Charlie Savage explained on Monday in the New York Times that the government will be able to obtain virtually all the information they received with Section 215 through many other laws.
Then there are those who claim that the NSA – that magnificent benevolent keeper of all our personal secrets – never has (and would never dream!) of abusing its great power. It’s by far the biggest misnomer about the whole debate; of course the NSA’s gigantic phone database has been abused. You can just ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) court itself: in 2011, Judge Bates wrote that the privacy rules and restrictions placed on the agency by the court were “so frequently and systematically violated that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall … regime has never functioned effectively.” But yeah, other than that, no abuse at all.Then there are those who claim that the NSA – that magnificent benevolent keeper of all our personal secrets – never has (and would never dream!) of abusing its great power. It’s by far the biggest misnomer about the whole debate; of course the NSA’s gigantic phone database has been abused. You can just ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) court itself: in 2011, Judge Bates wrote that the privacy rules and restrictions placed on the agency by the court were “so frequently and systematically violated that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall … regime has never functioned effectively.” But yeah, other than that, no abuse at all.
This week, Congress will decide the future of NSA surveillance, and if you want your representatives to permanently restrict the NSA you have to tell them. But in the mean time, let’s all take a moment to appreciate that – at least for today – our constitutionally-guaranteed privacy isn’t being automatically going to be violated no matter who we choose to call.This week, Congress will decide the future of NSA surveillance, and if you want your representatives to permanently restrict the NSA you have to tell them. But in the mean time, let’s all take a moment to appreciate that – at least for today – our constitutionally-guaranteed privacy isn’t being automatically going to be violated no matter who we choose to call.