THIS HAS PASSED CONGRESS AND IS ON THE WAY FOR FUCKING OBAMA TO SIGN!
Spread the word and call/write/email your representative. This is some fucking BULLSHIT.
Here’s the deal, a bill has been passed in both the house and senate that will make the collection of private information completely legal without warrant or citation. The bill is called H.R. 4681, and on the surface it looks like an ordinary budget bill. If you read in deeper, like Sec 309 in the text, you see the real deal.
This bill just passed both the house and the senate. It will make the collection of private information completely legal without warrant or citation. On the surface it looks like an ordinary budget bill. If you read deeper, this bill gives the executive branch an unholy amount of power to observe you in any way the see fit. Any agency can log into your computer and pull files without warrant or citation, and share them with other state entities. They can retain your communication indefinitely.
They can actually detain and decrypt encrypted files and emails, based on the premise of since it’s encrypted, you’re hiding something evil. And it can do all of this 100% legally, giving you no leg to stand on to fight back through the judicial system.
Full text of the bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/4681/text
Locate your reps:
See how they voted:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2014/roll271.xml
Congressman Amash’s Facebook post regarding the bill (he’s the one who caught it):
RT
Free Thought
Nat’l Journal
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/congress-quietly-bolsters-nsa-spying-in-intelligence-bill-20141211
The Hill
US News and World Report
SEC. 309. PROCEDURES FOR THE RETENTION OF INCIDENTALLY ACQUIRED
COMMUNICATIONS.
(a) Definitions.â??In this section:
(1) Covered communication. The term "covered communicationâ??
means any nonpublic telephone or electronic communication acquired
without the consent of a person who is a party to the
communication, including communications in electronic storage.
(2) Head of an element of the intelligence community. The term
“head of an element of the intelligence community” means, as
appropriate
(A) the head of an element of the intelligence community;
or
(B) the head of the department or agency containing such
element.
(3) United states person.â??The term “United States person”
has the meaning given that term in section 101 of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801).
(b) Procedures for Covered Communications
(1) Requirement to adopt. Not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act each head of an element of the
intelligence community shall adopt procedures approved by the
Attorney General for such element that ensure compliance with the
requirements of paragraph (3).
(2) Coordination and approval. The procedures required by
paragraph (1) shall be
(A) prepared in coordination with the Director of National
Intelligence; and
(B) approved by the Attorney General prior to issuance.
(3) Procedures.
(A) Application. The procedures required by paragraph (1)
shall apply to any intelligence collection activity not
otherwise authorized by court order (including an order or
certification issued by a court established under subsection
(a) or (b) of section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803)), subpoena, or
similar legal process that is reasonably anticipated to result
in the acquisition of a covered communication to or from a
United States person and shall permit the acquisition,
retention, and dissemination of covered communications subject
to the limitation in subparagraph (B).
(B) Limitation on retention. A covered communication shall
not be retained in excess of 5 years, unless
(i) the communication has been affirmatively
determined, in whole or in part, to constitute foreign
intelligence or counterintelligence or is necessary to
understand or assess foreign intelligence or
counterintelligence;
(ii) the communication is reasonably believed to
constitute evidence of a crime and is retained by a law
enforcement agency;
(iii) the communication is enciphered or reasonably
believed to have a secret meaning;
(iv) all parties to the communication are reasonably
believed to be non-United States persons;
(v) retention is necessary to protect against an
imminent threat to human life, in which case both the
nature of the threat and the information to be retained
shall be reported to the congressional intelligence
committees not later than 30 days after the date such
retention is extended under this clause;
(vi) retention is necessary for technical assurance or
compliance purposes, including a court order or discovery
obligation, in which case access to information retained
for technical assurance or compliance purposes shall be
reported to the congressional intelligence committees on an
annual basis; or
(vii) retention for a period in excess of 5 years is
approved by the head of the element of the intelligence
community responsible for such retention, based on a
determination that retention is necessary to protect the
national security of the United States, in which case the
head of such element shall provide to the congressional
intelligence committees a written certification
describing
(I) the reasons extended retention is necessary to
protect the national security of the United States;
(II) the duration for which the head of the element
is authorizing retention;
(III) the particular information to be retained;
and
(IV) the measures the element of the intelligence
community is taking to protect the privacy interests of
United States persons or persons located inside the
United States.