Watered down bill loses half its co-sponsors.
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed
a watered down version of the USA FREEDOM Act. It is greatly disappointing to witness House leaders succumb to the
pressure applied by the Obama administration and others turning its back on the compromised version of USA FREEDOM
that so many initially supported.
How watered down? The revised version of the bill washed away half of its co-sponsors.
The USA FREEDOM bill was introduced last year to reform NSA surveillance activities. Access had endorsed the bill when it was introduced but it has gone through substantial changes in the last week and the current version of the bill falls short of advancing meaningful protections for U.S. and international Internet users.
In the Houses floor debate Representative Lofgren one of the co-sponsors of the Bill voiced her dissent with the current text. Cong. Lofgren noted the bill may still allow bulk collection in some instances due to ambiguity and further argued that its transparency provisions were substantially weakened.
She explained that both digital rights groups and corporations have withdrawn support for the gutted proposal.
Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner (left) the bills primary sponsor expressed disappointment in the actions taken to water down the bill but said that it
would be a first step toward NSA reform.
House leaders and the Obama administration met earlier this week to further modify the bill which was already weakened prior to its passage out of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees two weeks ago.
The last-minute changes weaken NSA reform by:
- Introducing ambiguity into the definition of the term specific selection term" which was key to the bills proposal to end bulk collection
- Removing a provision banning reverse targeting of communications of U.S. persons
- Giving the intelligence community more internal control over declassification review
- Appearing to condone the NSAs practice of reviewing the content of international communications about targeted individuals
- Watering down transparency reporting permissions for communications companies and services
As the bill prepares to move to the Senate for further consideration Access will continue to fight for meaningful reform of NSA practices that are not transparent not
accountable and not in line with human rights standards.
Amie Stepanovich a Senior Policy Counsel at Access and expert in domestic surveillance cybersecurity & privacy law leads projects on digital due process and responds to threats at the intersection of human rights and communications surveillance.
would be a first step toward NSA reform.
House leaders and the Obama administration met earlier this week to further modify the bill which was already weakened prior to its passage out of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees two weeks ago.
The last-minute changes weaken NSA reform by:
