Home
Contact Us
Donate
Support Us
Store
Books
Videos
Global Political Awakening and the New World Order
Quotes
Translate
GPA Store: Featured Products
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Senators urge NSA to correct ‘significant inaccuracy’ about privacy protections in FISA fact sheet
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
credit: Talk Radio News Service/Flickr
Madison Ruppert
Two senators are now calling on the National Security Agency (NSA) to correct the “misleading” statements made in the agency’s fact sheet on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
FISA lays the groundwork
for a great deal of
government surveillance
including the
highly controversial
and wide-ranging
PRISM program
.
“In our judgment this inaccuracy is significant, as it portrays protections for Americans’ privacy being significantly stronger than they actually are,” Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Ore.)
stated
.
The fact sheet released by the NSA deal with section 702 of FISA, which enables the collection of phone and
internet communications
, along with section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which enables the bulk
collection of phone records
.
“We were disappointed to see that this fact sheet contains an inaccurate statement about how the section 702 authority has been interpreted by the US government,” the senators wrote in a letter to
Gen. Keith Alexander
.
Unfortunately, the details were included in a classified attachment to the letter.
One can’t really put the blame on Udall and Wyden for identifying the details in a classified attachment given the fact that
the government’s interpretation of the law is itself secret
.
“Unfortunately, we can’t describe the inaccuracy in detail without divulging information that is currently classified,” Tom Caiazza, a spokesman for Wyden said to
the Guardian
. “For now we can say that there is an inaccurate statement in the fact sheet publicly released and posted on the NSA website that portrays protections for Americans’ privacy as being stronger than they are.
However, Wyden and Udall did identify the fact sheet’s claim that “any inadvertently acquired communication of or concerning a US person must be promptly destroyed if it is neither relevant to the authorized purpose nor evidence of a crime,” as “somewhat misleading.”
The statement itself contradicts what the NSA previously claimed about not possibly being able to know how many Americans had their communications collected.
That claim was also contradicted by
the recently revealed “Boundless Informant” software
.
The statement itself “implies that [the NSA] does know what has been inadvertently collected and can thereby destroy it,” as Meghan Kelly pointed out in
Venture Beat
.
Furthermore, the senators pointed out that the statement implies “that the law does not allow the NSA to deliberately search for the records of particular Americans.”
“As you have seen, when the NSA makes inaccurate statements about government surveillance and fails to correct the public record, it can decrease public confidence in the NSA’s openness and its commitment to protecting Americans’ constitutional rights,” the senators wrote.
“Rebuilding this confidence will require a willingness to correct misstatements and a willingness to make reforms where appropriate,” they added.
I’d love to hear your opinion, take a look at your story tips and even your original writing if you would like to get it published. I am also available for interviews on radio, television or any other format. Please email me at
Admin@EndtheLie.com
Please support our work and help us start to pay contributors by doing your shopping through our
Amazon link
or check out some must-have products at our
store
.
This article first appeared at
End the Lie
.
Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database
End The Lie
and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on
UCYTV
Monday nights 7 PM - 9 PM PT/10 PM - 12 AM ET. Show page link here:
http://UCY.TV/EndtheLie
. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at
admin@EndtheLie.com
Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:
Delivered by
FeedBurner
Be the Change! Share this using the tools below.
0 Comments
Disqus
Fb Comments
[Get It]
Comments :
Newer Post
Older Post
Home