UPDATE 2-Bill to overhaul NSA data collection clears hurdle in U.S. Congress. Business UPDATE 2-Bill to overhaul NSA data collection clears hurdle in U.S. Congress Thu, May 08 07:06 AM IST (Adds White House reaction, paragraphs 5-6) WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. The House Judiciary committee voted 32-0 to back the measure, which would end the NSA's gathering information about telephone calls and storing them for at least five years.
The bill would allow the NSA to collect a person's phone records, and those of two contacts, if investigators can convince a judge they have a reasonable suspicion the person was involved in terrorism. The legislation still faces several hurdles before becoming law, including winning the approval of a majority in the full House, as well as backing in the U.S. "We applaud the House Judiciary Committee for approaching this issue on a bipartisan basis," White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. Privacy groups said they were delighted with the support for the bill. Réforme de la NSA : un premier cap franchi au Congrès. La réforme du programme de surveillance téléphonique de l'Agence nationale de sécurité (NSA) aux Etats-Unis a passé un premier cap mercredi 7 mai à la Chambre des représentants, mais le débat est encore loin d'être tranché sur ses contours finaux.
La commission de la justice de la Chambre a adopté à l'unanimité de ses membres démocrates et républicains – un résultat rare – un texte qui mettrait fin à la collecte systématique des métadonnées téléphoniques (numéro appelé, durée, horaire) par la NSA auprès des opérateurs – le « USA Freedom Act ». Selon cette réforme, le FBI et la NSA devraient préalablement obtenir un mandat individuel auprès de la cour secrète dédiée aux écoutes, la Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), sur la base de « soupçons raisonnables », avant de pouvoir demander aux opérateurs les relevés téléphoniques d'un numéro donné, dans le cadre d'une enquête antiterroriste, pour une durée de cent quatre-vingts jours.
Rotenberg: Obama sets good course on privacy debate. Marc Rotenberg: President gave a historic speech about NSA reformsRotenberg: Give Obama credit in signaling a new direction on civil liberties, securityHe says but Obama has not said enough yet to assure those outside the U.S. Rotenberg: The U.S. should be the world's leader on freedom, not surveillance Editor's note: Marc Rotenberg is president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research center in Washington.
He teaches law at Georgetown University. (CNN) -- President Barack Obama gave a historic speech on Friday. Let's give Obama credit for signaling a new direction in the ongoing discussion over civil liberties and security. As Obama acknowledged, intelligence collection is necessary to a nation's security, and to all countries in identifying threats. Obama also announced the establishment of a public interest advocate at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the body that has authorized the vast surveillance program.
Marc Rotenberg.
5 big takeaways from the speech. Obama proposes changes to NSA surveillance. News By Grant Gross January 17, 2014 12:42 PM ET IDG News Service - President Barack Obama called for changes to U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, with new privacy advocates assigned to a surveillance court and a transition away from a controversial telephone records collection program in the U.S. However, Obama stopped short of major changes advocated by his own surveillance review panel and civil liberties groups. A recent debate over the NSA's surveillance programs, prompted by leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, forced Obama to propose changes. "Ultimately, what's at stake in this debate goes beyond a few months of headlines or passing tensions in our foreign policy," Obama said in a speech Friday.
The biggest change Obama proposed was a transition away from an NSA bulk phone records collection program, with the goal being a new program that doesn't include the NSA holding onto the records, Obama said. In addition, the U.S. Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Obama invokes history for context in surveillance reform speech. News By Zach Miners January 17, 2014 03:41 PM ET IDG News Service - President Barack Obama positioned his proposals for government surveillance reforms within the context of U.S. history to argue that spying is -- and always has been -- necessary.
"At the dawn of our Republic, a small, secret surveillance committee borne out of the "The Sons of Liberty" was established in Boston," Obama said to open his speech Friday. "And the group's members included Paul Revere. Before outlining his proposals, he also noted another bit of U.S. spying history related to the civil rights movement: "The challenge is getting the details right, and that is not simple.
These are some of the other comments from his speech that stood out: -- "Across the political spectrum, Americans recognized [after 9/11] that we had to adapt to a world in which a bomb could be built in a basement, and our electric grid could be shut down by operators an ocean away. Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Obama talks NSA: EFF, Julian Assange, White House respond. Just this morning, United States President Barack Obama spoke up at a bit of NSA news, letting it be known what his real NSA reform plan would be. As is often the case, some of the responses to the talk have appeared more telling than the talk itself. We're having a peek at what the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Julian Assange (of WikiLeaks), and the White House have done to follow up this set of announcements.
First with the EFF we're seeing a scorecard being laid out. This scorecard shows a number of what they call "common-sense fixes the President could-and should-announce at his briefing. " This scorecard was made on the 15th, and scored here on the 17th. WikiLeaks Twitter account was quick to respond in as public a manner as possible, letting loose a string of comments from Julian Assange. "I think it's embarrassing for a head of state to go on like that for forty minutes and say almost nothing. ...
President Obama Calls for Major Changes in National Security Surveillance Programs : : Privacy and Information Security Law Blog. In a major speech delivered at the U.S. Department of Justice on January 17, 2014, President Obama addressed the call for reforms to government surveillance programs following disclosures regarding National Security Agency (“NSA”) activities leaked by Edward Snowden since June of last year. The President discussed the need to advance national security while strengthening protections for privacy and civil liberties, improving transparency in intelligence programs, engaging in continual oversight and rebuilding trust among foreign leaders and citizens. He outlined several areas of reform: A new Presidential Directive on domestic and overseas signals intelligence activity is intended to strengthen executive branch oversight and ensure that such activities take into account security, trade and investment relationships with foreign countries, as well as privacy and civil liberties.
The White House.