See other Dead Constitution Articles
Title: It is just a technical matter, the Obama administration says: We just need to make a slight change in a law to make clear that we have the right to see the names of anyone’s e-mail correspondents and their Web browsing history without the messy complication of asking a judge for permission.
Source:
www.nytimes.com
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/o ... 0606612-XglNxARidIX/4hUfzvdXJA
Published: Jul 31, 2010
Author: NYT
Post Date: 2010-07-31 16:07:45 by Mind_Virus
Keywords: None
Views: 135
Comments: 10
Breaking a Promise on Surveillance Published: July 29, 2010 It is just a technical matter, the Obama administration says: We just need to make a slight change in a law to make clear that we have the right to see the names of anyone’s e-mail correspondents and their Web browsing history without the messy complication of asking a judge for permission. It is far more than a technical change. The administration’s request, reported Thursday in The Washington Post, is an unnecessary and disappointing step backward toward more intrusive surveillance from a president who promised something very different during the 2008 campaign. In a 1993 update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Congress said that Internet service providers have to turn over to the F.B.I., on request, “electronic communication transactional records.” The government says this includes the e-mail records of their subscribers, specifically the addresses to which e-mail messages were sent, and the times and dates. (The content of the messages can remain private.) It may also include Web browsing records. To get this information, the F.B.I. simply has to ask for it in the form of a national security letter, which is an administrative request that does not require a judge’s signature. But there was an inconsistency in the writing of the 1993 law. One section said that Internet providers had to turn over this information, but the next section, which specified what the F.B.I. could request, left out electronic communication records. In 2008, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion saying this discrepancy meant the F.B.I. could no longer ask for the information. Many Internet providers stopped turning it over. Now the Obama administration has asked Congress to make clear that the F.B.I. can ask for it. These national security letters are the same vehicles that the Bush administration used after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to demand that libraries turn over the names of books that people had checked out. The F.B.I. used these letters hundreds of thousands of times to demand records of phone calls and other communications, and the Pentagon used them to get records from banks and consumer credit agencies. Internal investigations of both agencies found widespread misuse of the power, and little oversight into how it was wielded. President Obama campaigned for office on an explicit promise to rein in these abuses. “There is no reason we cannot fight terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties,” his campaign wrote in a 2008 position paper. “As president, Barack Obama would revisit the Patriot Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision.” Where is the “robust oversight” that voters were promised? Earlier this year, the administration successfully pushed for crucial provisions of the Patriot Act to be renewed for another year without changing a word. Voters had every right to expect the president would roll back authority that had been clearly abused, like national security letters. But instead of implementing reasonable civil liberties protections, like taking requests for e-mail surveillance before a judge, the administration is proposing changes to the law that would allow huge numbers of new electronic communications to be examined with no judicial oversight. Democrats in Congress can remind Mr. Obama of his campaign promises by refusing this request.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
I guess any of us could ASK Obama to eat $#it and die but that would not compel him to do it. Just the same as the FBI can ASK Internet Service Providers for all their records, doesn't mean they have to give them the records.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. He (Gordon Duff) also implies that forcibly removing Obama, a Constitution-hating, on-the-down-low, crackhead Communist, is an attack on America, Mom, and apple pie. I swear these military people are worse than useless. Just look around at the condition of the country and tell me if they have fulfilled their oaths to protect the nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. No surprise, he lies about everything. Even where he was born.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. He (Gordon Duff) also implies that forcibly removing Obama, a Constitution-hating, on-the-down-low, crackhead Communist, is an attack on America, Mom, and apple pie. I swear these military people are worse than useless. Just look around at the condition of the country and tell me if they have fulfilled their oaths to protect the nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. When the people start going after the traitors in this nation, from government, to lobbyists, to the press, I hope they make a special note to pay a visit employees of the NY Times.
Oopsie...another fake promise from the KenyanDespotInChief, originally marketed as gospel truth to his leftie Birkenstock sandal wearing voter dupes, bites the dust...sigh...such a shame that citizens like us on 4um who were not taken in by Mr.AffirmativeAction's lies, are forced to live under the same tyranny as the dumb bunnies who voted to put TheMagicalChanger in the WH, with super majority control of Congress at his disposal.
Both of my "conservative" congressmen voted in favor. Not only will I tell them that I am disappointed in their votes on renewing the Patriot Act but expect no votes on this crap as well.
Name calling is juvenile.
I think he even lies about being straight. If Larry Sinclair is right, he is as gay as they come. Makes sense that he would be gay though. With all the CIA mind control he went under as a boy and teenager he was probably raped a lot by homos.
God is always good!
You're probably right. He probably goes "oooooohhhh, thtop that" every time Manchelle touches him.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. He (Gordon Duff) also implies that forcibly removing Obama, a Constitution-hating, on-the-down-low, crackhead Communist, is an attack on America, Mom, and apple pie. I swear these military people are worse than useless. Just look around at the condition of the country and tell me if they have fulfilled their oaths to protect the nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. It's just Organized Jewry's way of staying on top of things OJ has enough agents in the administration to snoop on everyone, just needs Obama to cover its behind.
Not true There are some here who voted for this tyranny. There are some here who were soooo stoopid that hey through handing the entire government over to the RATS was a good and safe idea. There was no reasoning with them before the election. No amount of logic, nor pointing out the obvious dangers could sway them. They were driven by hate of Bush alone. They put this hate above any love of country they might have had. Someone should start a thread on these treasonous idiots and expose to all who they are.
WWGPD? - (What Would General Pinochet Do?)
Now the Obama administration has asked Congress to make clear that the F.B.I. can ask for it.
Lord Acton
OsamaBinGoldstein posted on 2010-05-25 9:39:59 ET (2 images) Reply Trace
#2. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
President Obama campaigned for office on an explicit promise to rein in these abuses. “There is no reason we cannot fight terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties,” his campaign wrote in a 2008 position paper. “As president, Barack Obama would revisit the Patriot Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision.”
Lord Acton
OsamaBinGoldstein posted on 2010-05-25 9:39:59 ET (2 images) Reply Trace
#3. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
#4. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
Breaking a Promise on Surveillance...President Obama campaigned for office on an explicit promise to rein in these abuses. “There is no reason we cannot fight terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties,” his campaign wrote in a 2008 position paper. “...
#5. To: Mind_Virus, 4 (#0)
I wish this dude were potus - he makes more sense than the kenyan klown.
#6. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
Earlier this year, the administration successfully pushed for crucial provisions of the Patriot Act to be renewed for another year without changing a word.
#7. To: James Deffenbach (#2)
(Edited)
#8. To: RickyJ (#7)
Lord Acton
OsamaBinGoldstein posted on 2010-05-25 9:39:59 ET (2 images) Reply Trace
#9. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
#10. To: scrapper2 (#4)
.such a shame that citizens like us on 4um who were not taken in by Mr.AffirmativeAction's lies, are forced to live under the same tyranny as the dumb bunnies who voted to put TheMagicalChanger in the WH, with super majority control of Congress at his disposal.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest