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The National Security Agency has been lobbying a key senator amid debates about whether to reauthorize the NSAs foreign intelligence programs when the law sunsets on December 31, 2017.

Two congressional sources confirmed a May meeting, where Sen. John Cornyn, (R-Tex.), a vocal supporter of the intelligence community, got a private audience with the NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers.

Cornyn also got a private tour of the signals intelligence facility at Fort Meade, Maryland at the same time as the May meeting. He had visited the campus several months prior with other officials for an introductory tour, a typical event for lawmakers new to the committee.

Congressional sources familiar with the meeting expressed concern that the private access Cornyn was given may have provided him with an opportunity to provide input and get information that other members of the intelligence committee, and other panels responsible for oversight of the NSA, didnt have. Of particular concern is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that allows the NSA to scoop up digital communications travelling over underwater Internet cables and directly from providers and tech companies.

It seems odd that any senator tasked with evaluating and reauthorizing the program wouldnt have the chance to review it to whatever degree theyd like, Jake Laperruque, senior counsel at nonprofit civil liberties organization Constitution Project, wrote to Foreign Policy.

The NSA and Sen. Cornyns spokesman declined to comment on the meeting, which occurred just months before Section 702 is due to expire at the end of the year, unless lawmakers reauthorize it or reform it.

The law has sparked a heated debate about the values and drawbacks of certain features of NSAs programs ever since 2013, when former contractor Edward Snowden revealed details about them by giving classified documents to journalists.

Privacy advocates dont believe there are enough protections, and that theres too much backdoor access for domestic law enforcement. But the intelligence community argues that reauthorizing the law, without reform, is needed to protect the crown jewels critical in the fight against terrorism and other worldwide threats.

Its normal for a new member of the Senate Intelligence Committee to be brief by NSA, and other Senators have visited the secretive agency for tours, with staffers or without, to conduct oversight. But the timing of the private meeting coincides with a moment when the intelligence community is looking for congressional allies to save its key programs.

Cornyn has also been involved in oversight of the intelligence collection programs for years as a member of the Judiciary Committee. In early June, the month after his meeting with the NSA director, Cornyn supported a bill proposed by Sen. Tom Cotton, (R-Ark.) to make Section 702 permanent, eliminating the opportunity to reform the bill every couple years as technology and society change.

The battle over 702 has heated up in recent weeks as both sides ready for the reauthorization debate.

Also in early June, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, after promising to do his best to honor a President Obama-era commitment to give senators an estimate on how many Americans communications are incidentally collected when NSA is tracking digital and telephonic conversations overseas, publicly stated he could not disclose a figure.

While his predecessor, James Clapper, promised that he would release an estimate, and met with civil society groups on several occasions to discuss how that process would proceed, Coats now argues that doing so would be impractical, infeasible, and worsen privacy intrusions that already took place by searching for Americans names in the database.

Clapper did not return a request for comment, and the ODNI declined to comment.

While its within Coats authority to reverse an Obama-era policy, his reasons for doing so have been heavily criticized. The intelligence community admitted that making such an estimate is possible, and privacy advocates denied that performing such a search would do any further harm. Additionally, Coats did not inform all the relevant oversight committees ahead of time that he would not be disclosing a numberinformation several lawmakers believe is vital to understand the law and its practical impact on the American people.

Photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images

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NSA Director Gave Senator Private Tour During Debate Over Foreign intelligence Collection - Foreign Policy (blog)

National security officials are continually reassuring Americans that their communications arent getting caught in massive dragnets, and that when it does happen, the communications are handled responsibly. But recently-released opinions from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)the seven-judge panel charged with oversight of National Security Agency (NSA) spying programsshow just the opposite is true.

The heavily redacted documents, released on June 13 by the Department of Justice in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), show troubling abuses of surveillance powers granted under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act.

Section 702, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008, authorizes the intelligence community to collect data and metadata of foreign communications, while preventing the agencies from intentionally targeting American people. The goal of this type of online surveillance is to catch the communications of foreign terrorists before they make their way to the United States. Two of the main programs, PRISM and UPSTREAM, were disclosed by the leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

As the Washington Post pointed out in 2014, nine out of 10 internet users who have had their data collected under Section 702 were ordinary internet users and not actual surveillance targets. According to the FISC, around 56,000 Americans per year have their communications accidentally sucked up in this process. That means the types of hiccups and compliance issues that these new documents illustrate could be impacting thousands of Americans annually.

One Court opinion, released last week, shows the NSA has engaged in significant overcollection of the content of communications of non-target U.S. persons and persons in the U.S. This type of data collection is supposed to be expressly prohibited. If these allegations are true, this shows even more rampant hypocrisy within the intelligence community, who constantly defend and justify Section 702. If this overcollection is happening, theyve been blatantly lying.

During a June 7 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, NSA Director Mike Rogers continually downplayed issues of inadvertent collection of Americans communications under Section 702. Amid bipartisan questioning from Sens. Ron Wyden and Marco Rubio, he defended the program, calling it vital to national security andsaying it offers insight into foreign powers that could not be matched without the program.

Its bad enough that the intelligence apparatus is collecting too much of Americans communications under Section 702, but theyre also mishandling it once they have it. A 2010 FISC opinion states that the NSA had a compliance incident and failure to purge information that was required to be destroyed under the targeting and minimization procedures from certain NSA data repositories. Minimization procedures require the NSA to stop collecting data once it is determined that the target is within the United States. If the surveillance state is failing to comply with such a basic check on its power and holding onto communications that it should not be keeping, that is an egregious abuse of the powers it is given. It shows a lack of responsibility and failure to own up to mistakes on the part of the NSA.

A 2013 document, also released this week, highlights a similar compliance incident that concerned the [redacted] post-tasking checks NSA conducts to help ensure that [redacted] tasked for collection pursuant Sections 702, 704 and 705(b) of the Act are not being used from inside the United States. The term tasking refersto NSA requests for data or metadata from private companies, which can help NSA officials track the whereabouts of a target. This is particularly used under PRISM, which allows NSA to collect data from at least nine major internet companies servers.

Despite all of the abuses the documents highlight, some members of Congress continue to wholeheartedly endorse Section 702. On June 6, Sen. Tom Cotton introduced legislation to make Section 702 permanent, getting rid of the requirement that it be voted on every five years.

As a justification for the program, Cotton invokes the same need for foreign insights that Rogers mentioned in his testimony, while ignoring the inadvertent collection of Americans data. That type of disregard for Americans privacy is pervasive on both the left and the right.

While not surprising, these documents serve as yet another reminder of the continuing abuse of surveillance powers granted under Section 702. Hopefully the vast revelations of surveillance overreach from groups like EFF can jolt congressional representatives to let Section 702 sunset when its time comes on December 31. But based on Congress overwhelming support for reauthorizing Section 702 in 2012, and Cottons introduction of a bill to make it permit, civil libertarians shouldnt hold their collective breath.

Dan King is an advocate for Young Voices and a journalist residing in New Yorks Adirondacks. He writes about free speech, civil liberties and LGBT issues. He can be found on Twitter @Kinger_Editor.

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There Is Now Proof the NSA Overindulges in Data Collection - Observer

Tri-City Herald

Washington Angels 14U win B NSA state title Tri-City Herald The Washington Angels 14U softball team won the 14U B NSA state championship Sunday at Columbia Playfields in Richland. The Angels went 6-0 on the weekend, with a 6-2 win over the Monarch Crushers in the championship. Team members are: Lexi ...

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Washington Angels 14U win B NSA state title - Tri-City Herald

Since it was announced earlier this month, iOS 11 has attracted a lot of attention. As usual, it was released to developers straight away and reaches the rest of us in the autumn.

But if you just can't wait, the iOS 11 public beta program has just gone live.

So, should you upgrade, how do you do it and what are the downsides?

I'll be taking a first look at the changes in depth soon but they include significant benefits for iPad users including a dock that looks almost like it does on a MacBook, a Files app and drag-and-drop functionality.

There are also improved features for the iPhone and iPad camera, including Long Exposure and more versatile Live Photos.

There's an updated App Store complete with snazzy new shortcut icon and indoor maps for major airports for Apple Maps.

All very jolly, but Apple warns that a beta software version isn't for just anyone.

For a start, the company recommends you should back up your device before you let it anywhere near the beta. This means that if you decide the public beta isn't for you, you can revert to this back-up then by restoring the device.

And it's best to put the software on a secondary gadget, not the iPhone you depend on every day, for instance. After all, this is beta software, not finished stuff, so some things will go wrong.

One of the benefits of joining the beta program is you get to see what's coming before anyone else, but you may find that some third-party apps don't work properly at first.

It also means that you can leave your thoughts through the Feedback Assistant app that's built into the beta.

Of course, it's free, just like the final software will be when it arrives in the autumn.

If you think it's for you, here's how to go about it.

Log in to beta.apple.com and sign up with your Apple ID. Once that's done, you can enrol your device, which is where Apple will remind you to archive an iOS backup (with instructions on how to do so).

Then you'll need to download the configuration profile, which is easily done. From the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch on to which you're going to put the beta software, go to beta.apple.com/profile where you'll find onscreen instructions.

Then just update to iOS 11 public beta by going to Settings, then General and Software Update.

Allow the gadget a while to update to its new software and then, well, enjoy the changes. Beta software changes all the time, so expect extra features to arrive, battery response to be tweaked and so on.

Once that's done, you're set. Enjoy.

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Apple iOS 11 Public Beta is now live: How to install it - The Independent

Don't pay for Windows software! There's always a free alternative and - for the most part - it will do everything the big names do. Our picks for the best free alternatives to Word, Photoshop, plus antivirus, backup and VPN

By Jim Martin | 19 Jun 2017

These days most software is either free or cheap to buy. But some Windows programs still cost 100s. Either that or you have to pay a subscription fee (such as Microsoft Office 365 or Adobe CC). But there are free equivalents to just about every paid-for program, from Word and Excel to Photoshop,antivirus and games.

Hereis the best free Windows software you can download right now, but do check out the best free games as well.

You might not need a whole office suite, just a word processor. In case you didn't know, Windows has one built-in: it's called Word Pad. It lacks many of Word's features but may have enough for your needs.

If you must have Word, then here are a few ways to use Word for free.

Now that Microsoft has made a concerted effort to switch everyone to a subscription model for Office 365, it's even more tempting to opt for a free alternative. Our pick is LibreOffice, which is now far from being a mere off-shoot of OpenOffice. For most people LibreOffice offers everything you need, being just about as compatible with Microsoft Office as it's possible to get.

If you want a suite which copies Microsoft's ribbon interface, look at Kingsoft Office Suite Free.

Also, there are plenty of free PDF editors which allow you to convert a non-editable file into a format, such as .doc or .xls so you can change it.

Photoshop is still the benchmark for photo editors, but there are two cheaper alternatives: Lightroom 6 (109.99 from John Lewis) and Photoshop Elements 15 (80.99 from Ebuyer). However, there are plenty of free photo editors, including some web apps.

Some people find that Paint.net offers everything they need for offline use, while others will be more than happy withPicMonkey.

You'll find more recommendations in our dedicated roundup of the best free photo editors.

Also, don't forget that in the Creators Update to Windows 10, the built-in Paint app has had a massive upgrade!

Plus, if you have a phone or tablet, there are some excellent photo editing apps. Most apply edits to the whole photo, but some, such as Photoshop Mix, even support layers. Others, like Snapseed, let you apply changes just to certain areas. And they're both free.

Opinions will always be divided on the best free antivirus software and, as with paid-for AV software, test results will change on an almost daily basis because makers update their databases and algorithms.

There are quite a few to choose between, but don't forget Microsoft's Defender whichis included with Windows 8 and 10.

For our current top picks, see our separate Best Free Antivirus software roundup.

Email is one of those personal things where, as with antivirus, any recommendation is always going to be controversial. Some people swear by Mozilla Thunderbird while others think thatIncredimail is the best thing since, well, email was invented.

Most people don't use either of those, instead preferring the web app of their chosen service such as Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo, along with the default email client (or the service's own app) on theirphone.

We've compared the best free email services in detail separately.

Backing up irreplaceable files is a chore we could all do without, but while cloud storage services let you sync files without lifting a finger, none are capacious enough (even if you're paying) to back up your entire PC or laptop.

The good news is that there's free backup software on offer, you just need to provide the storage. One of our favourites is Easeus ToDo Backup Free 9.You'll find more alternatives in our guide to the best backup software.

But if you have under 50GB of files, it's well worth checking out Mega. This cloud storage service will give you 50GB for free. Find out more in our roundup of theBest cloud storage services.

Windows Movie Maker is now defunct, and most people couldn't get on with its limited tools. Fortunately there's a number of free alternatives, includingLightWorkswhich you can read all about in our roundup of thebest free video editors.

Again, as with photo editors, don't overlook the video editing apps available on your phone and tablet. For iOS users, iMovie is a convenient way to edit video you've taken on an iPhone (or iPad) and if you're running iOS 10 or later, you can quickly edit within the Photos app using the Memories section.

Android users don't have the same built-in software, but GoPro Quik is free (and it's also available for Windows).

VPN services aren't just for browsing the web anonymously. They also let you access or unblock content that's otherwise limited to users located in particular countries. All free VPNs have their drawbacks, one of which could be unwanted advertising. Another is restricted data or download speeds.

But for some people, a free VPN is all they need and CyberGhost's free service is one worth checking out. Free VPNs have their limitations, and many agree that you need to pay for a service for it to be

Here are the bestfree VPN services we've tested out, and also the best paid-for VPN services.

You're bound to know other great free software, so if you feel you have a better suggestion, or want to suggest software in other categories, let us know in the comments below.

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Best free Windows software: antivirus - Tech Advisor