UPDATED 10:52 EDT / JUNE 26 2013

NEWS

A Small Victory for Ed Snowden: Lawmakers Propose to Block Unwarranted Spying

Edward Snowden, quite possibly the most wanted man on Earth , has a few more tricks up his sleeve as it’s been revealed that a whole bunch of NSA documents are still yet to be released.

Last week, The Guardian newspaper published a number of new documents which revealed that PRISM gave the NSA access to US data even without a warrant.  It turns out that the NSA is allowed to snoop on communications regardless of their origin, on the basis that it needs to ‘ascertain’ whether or not the data pertains to a US or foreign citizen. Even worse, if the NSA decides that it isn’t ‘certain’ about the nationality of whoever it’s spying on, it’s allowed to keep that data indefinitely, and pass it onto other agencies.

According to The Guardian, Snowden’s motivation was to shed light on what the US government was doing to its own people, rather than to harm the government.  This is why Snowden was careful not to leak information that could, for example, incriminate undercover agents. It’s also the most likely reason why he hasn’t said anything about the technical set-up in place that allows the NSA to intercept people’s communications, as he did not want to help other governments do the same thing.

Now of course, Snowden is on the run. Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the whistleblower has indeed landed up in Moscow,  and that he’s still staying at the Sheremetyevo airport’s transit hall.  The US government has urged Putin to extradite Snowden, even going as far as to accuse the Russian president of harboring a criminal – an accusation that Putin angrily rejected.  Putin stated that Snowden arrived as a transit passenger, which means that did not need a visa as he hasn’t officially entered the country. And because he technically isn’t in the country, Russia cannot detain him, insisted Putin.  The President added that Russia refuses to take sides on the matter.

Snowden’s reportedly applied for political asylum in Ecuador, but whether or not he’ll make it there or not isn’t clear. Presuming that the Russians haven’t actually detained him themselves, Ecuador is still a long, long way from Moscow and flying there would involve at least one stopover in a third country – originally it was believed he’d planned to fly there via Cuba and Venezuela, but after missing a flight he’d booked to Havana, his status remains in limbo.

It’s pretty obvious that things haven’t quite gone to plan, but it was revealed today that Snowden already has a backup plan to provide furthest  information about PRISM and the NSA to the public in case anything happens to him.  According to Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first broke Snowden’s story, the whistleblower has made “numerous” digital copies of the files and these have been sent to various trusted people, and will be revealed in the event he’s killed or taken into custody.

Meanwhile, back in the US, it looks as if Snowden’s actions are actually having the intended effect.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other lawmakers introduced new legislation at the weekend that would provide more accountability and oversight of laws that govern the recently disclosed surveillance programs.

The most controversial part of the Patriot Act is said to be Section 215, which allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize broad warrants for almost any type of record, including those held by banks, doctors and phone companies. It’s said that the NSA can obtain these warrants almost at will, the suspect doesn’t even need to have any connection with terrorism or spying.

Here’s Senator Leahy’s statement:

“The FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act will also reform and improve other authorities contained in the PATRIOT Act that, while perhaps not a topic of recent public debate, also significantly impact the privacy rights of Americans.  National security letters (or NSLs), for example, are used extensively by law enforcement and the intelligence community, and can be issued without the approval of a court, grand jury, or prosecutor.

“To ensure proper congressional oversight, I propose applying a new sunset to the NSL authority.  I have long been concerned about the broad scope of these secret requests, and the potential for expansive collection of sensitive information without appropriate limitations, and a sunset provision would help to ensure proper accountability. Additionally, my bill would also address constitutional deficiencies regarding the nondisclosure or “gag orders” by finally allowing individuals to challenge these orders in court.  The bill would also expand public reporting on the use of NSLs and FISA authorities, including an unclassified report on the impact of the use of these authorities on the privacy of U.S. persons,”

The legislation presented aims to tighten this section so that warrants won’t be awarded willy-nilly any time a branch of the government requests access to people’s data.

The proposal includes a stipulation that “the government [has to] show relevance to an authorized investigation and a link to one of three categories of a foreign agent, power, or group,” while another provision states that the government needs “to provide a statement of the facts and circumstances” to the court to justify any surveillance.


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