Mediaboss Marketing

Efforts to curb the National Security Agencys bulk collection of American phone metadata were dealt a blow with the defeat of the USA Freedom Act on Nov. 18. With a 58-42 vote, the bill failed to attract the 60 votes necessary to clear the Senate filibuster.

With Republicans taking control of Congress in January, privacy advocates are concerned that the vote represented the last chance to enact surveillance reform. Experts say its too close to call whether the new, GOP-controlled Congress will maintain the status quo or look to pass legislation that accomplishes some of the Freedom Acts objectives.

Theres enough uneasiness and opposition to the NSA that the GOP is split over what to do next, said Robert Jervis, a professor of political science and international affairs at Columbia University. Still, theres a broad political coalition thats in favor of surveillance, said Abraham Newman, an associate professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Normally hawkish Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, voted for the bill.

Incoming Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., referring to the terrorist group ISIS, said now is the worst time to tie our hands behind our backs and voted against it.

Incoming Senate judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, voted against the bill. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a front-runner for the GOP 2016 presidential nomination, voted against it because of a provision to extend Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which provides the legal foundation for the data collection. It will expire on June 1 next year if not renewed.

The very likely outcome is that it will be renewed, Newman said, adding that a provision could be attached to another bill in the weeks before the June 1 deadline. Many provisions of the Patriot Act have sunset clauses, but, if you look, very few of them have ever actually sunset. It could be reauthorized through some omnibus legislation.

The USA Freedom Act proposed an end to the indiscriminate collection of American phone metadata and would have installed a privacy watchdog within Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court deliberations.

The USA Freedom Act would have also forced the NSA to reveal how many Americans are inadvertently ensnared in the investigation of foreign suspects and given technology companies the ability to be more transparent on the number of data requests they are forced to comply with.

If passed, the act would have ensured that the NSA still had access to phone metadata while keeping those records in the hands of phone companies. That raised eyebrows from the civil liberties community, with critics pointing to the recent news of Verizons nearly undetectable tracking cookie as proof that the corporate world is hardly a better privacy safeguard than the NSA.

Read more:
NSA Reform Could Pit GOP Hawks Against Partys Libertarian Wing

The U.S. is citing the threat posed by Islamic State in a bid to block an anti-surveillance resolution backed by Germany and Brazil at the United Nations, diplomats said.

The two countries are seeking a vote today in the General Assemblys human rights committee on a nonbinding resolution to condemn the mass collection of metadata, such as the bulk records of phone calls that are gathered by the U.S. National Security Agency.

In response, the Obama administration is arguing that such intelligence is needed by the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting the Sunni extremists in Iraq and Syria and faces the threat of foreign fighters come home to stage terrorist attacks in Europe or the U.S., according to two UN diplomats involved in the negotiations who asked not to be identified commenting on private consultations.

The lobbying by American diplomats is a shift from the low-key approach they took last year to minimize a political backlash after disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of U.S. surveillance at home and abroad. Last year, the General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution that condemned the mass collection of personal data generally.

Brazil and Germany led the effort then, too, after the disclosure that the NSA may have tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkels mobile phone and eavesdropped on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseffs private communications.

Metadata include the dates and time stamps of communications, such as how long calls lasted, when and where an e-mail account was accessed, or which websites were visited and when, without disclosing the contents of the communications.

A third UN diplomat said the U.S. may have shifted its negotiating tactics because of a separate provision in the draft resolution, which says governments should exercise regulatory jurisdiction over companies that control data to ensure compliance with human-rights obligations.

Last week, the U.S. Senate voted against taking up a measure that would limit the NSAs bulk collection of phone records, saying it would restrict the intelligence communitys ability to prevent terrorist attacks. The legislation was backed by a coalition of Internet and technology companies, which include Google Inc. (GOOG) and Twitter Inc. (TWTR)

To contact the reporter on this story: Sangwon Yoon in United Nations at syoon32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Larry Liebert, Michael Shepard

See the original post:
U.S. Said to Cite Islamic State Fight to Block UN Spying Text

Taking a page from reddit's ask-me-anything feature and other live Q&A sessions, the country's most popular spies are burnishing their image today with a little direct outreach.

On Tumblr, Rebecca Richards the National Security Agency's civil liberties and privacy officer is tossing out casual, Internetty answers to mostly softball questions like "What is your first priority as Privacy Director?" and "What is involved in your typical day of work?"

The answers consist mainly of abstract buzzwords like "protect and safeguard personal privacy" without going into specifics.

The chat, if you can call it that, is only one hour long and was first promoted by the NSA about six hours ago. It would've been easy to miss unless you already follow the NSA closely. So far, Richards hasn't addressed last week's USA Freedom Act vote in Congress, or any other substantive policy issues which left some visibly frustrated over the event.

Richards has taken one question from Gellman and one from another journalist, but didn't directly address the first and offered few specifics on the second.

Brian Fung covers technology for The Washington Post.

More:
Shock: The NSAs live Q&A is totally devoid of substance

Libertarian Champion Rand Paul Helps Kill NSA Reform Bill
Libertarian champion Rand Paul helped kill an NSA reform bill On the Bonus Show: A global cocoa shortage, pedophilia and murder in the UK, virginity tests for Indonesian female police...

By: David Pakman Show

Read more:
Libertarian Champion Rand Paul Helps Kill NSA Reform Bill - Video

AP Exclusive: Before Snowden, a Debate Inside NSA

By: mikeroweRules12

Follow this link:
AP Exclusive: Before Snowden, a Debate Inside NSA - Video