We need to stop this law

[smo]

I haven't been active in a while but I need to spread the word about this new US law that has to potential to fuck the world. Read it yourself:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/4681/text
tl;dr: 1984 is here, this law grants the  executive branch virtually unlimited warrentless access to the  communications of every American and gives this information to not just  federal agencies but to local law enforcement as well., and it gives the US gov an excuse to break international privacy laws as it allows them impunitive access to any server even vaguely associated with the US, it basically lets them do whatever the fuck the want online with no repercussions. This is VERY bad for anyone who values privacy, especially if you have things you don't really want the US gov seeing (I'm sure none of you do)

So what can we do? Our only hope at this point is to spread the word and cause a big enough uproar to pressure Obama into vetoing the bill, because if it passes, nobody is safe. This is not just a US issue, this is a global issue. Post this shit any and everywhere, print out posters and stickers and put them up, spread the word, shout it from the rooftops, if you are in the US encourage people to write their congressmen, the more people we can get pissed off, the more pressure on Obama to veto, if this law passes, the rest of the world will likely follow suit and we will all be fucked.
resources:
https://imgur.com/a/yCluH
http://pastebin.com/W5BpTzme
petition:
http://1.usa.gov/1yYET3b
irc:
#HR4681ops
I will keep you all updated as more information becomes available, but if we want to stop this we need to act immediately

[madf0x]

Have you read the law? Im no lawyer, but I read through this and all it pretty much says is 'we need to pay the nsa, and yeah they spy'.

Authorizing the nsa to preform espionage is not new, they aren't suddenly gaining any power or legalities they didnt already have  :/

I've signed the petition but it's kind of 60 years too late.....

[smo]

(1) Covered communication.–The term ``covered communication'' 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.

(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–

- section 309

[madf0x]

Yup I DID read it too ya know, and we like to call that spying. Its literally part of their job, always had been.

My point is not that they aren't trying to spooky shit, they are, its that them being allowed to do so by law isn't new. Petitioning this law isn't going to prevent them from gaining new capabilities, petitioning this law will fuck with their budget which will do more harm to them then saying 'you can't do X'.

[Resistor]

I haven't read the bill, and I read the section 309 quote, but it's fucking legalese bullshit and I don't speak legalese bullshit. What I'm getting from that paragraph is allowing warrantless wiretapping of any private electronic communication and stores the data for 5 years. Please correct me if I'm wrong, or partially wrong.

Does this codify into the law the powers the US has assumed in trying to access Microsoft's overseas servers?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/microsoft-tells-us-the-worlds-servers-are-not-yours-for-the-taking/

Anyway, I think this bill should be opposed if only to defund the NSA, which as madf0x said is really the only way to weaken their powers. They can't hack the world if they don't have the money.

[madf0x]

I haven't read the bill, and I read the section 309 quote, but it's fucking legalese bullshit and I don't speak legalese bullshit. What I'm getting from that paragraph is allowing warrantless wiretapping of any private electronic communication and stores the data for 5 years. Please correct me if I'm wrong, or partially wrong.

Does this codify into the law the powers the US has assumed in trying to access Microsoft's overseas servers?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/microsoft-tells-us-the-worlds-servers-are-not-yours-for-the-taking/

Anyway, I think this bill should be opposed if only to defund the NSA, which as madf0x said is really the only way to weaken their powers. They can't hack the world if they don't have the money.

more or less so. Theyve been able to do so before hand, waving NSA letters around, and/or forming deals with various telecoms and software companies, and thats local wiretapping. For foreign intelligence theyve ALWAYS had free reign to do what they want. If it's a foreign communication they by US law have the legal ability to intercept it. Doesn't mean other countries have to consent though and most obviously dont. Backroom deals and national security letters have been necessary to get away with intercepting citizen's communications, but theyve had no issues with that in the past. At most, someone may interpret the bill as not even requiring said magic letters if they decide they 'need' access. Which I can concede would mean that on the bureaucratic side, analysts would need to go through less red tape to violate your privacy.

On the other hand theres the possibility that it will create more red tape to satisfy the requirements of the bill, as I've said elsewhere even the NSA falls prey to office politics and paperwork. Either way, what the boys and girls down at our favorite three letter agency gain from this bill can be speculated at best. They do stand to lose a lot though, shame if they had to go under any gov cutbacks

[Resistor]

EFF statement on HR4681

On Wednesday of last week, the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2015 passed in the US House of Representatives. The bill, H.R. 4681, contains Section 309, which imposes guidelines for when the intelligence community can keep some communications collected under Executive Order 12333 (EO 12333). President Reagan wrote the policy document in the 1980s to provide the framework for intelligence agency conduct. Today, it is used to justify mass surveillance of communications.

Congress showed that it is willing to tackle the mass spying conducted under EO 12333 by inserting Section 309 into the bill. It’s one of the first times Congress has publicly stood up to spying covered by the Executive Order. It's a good sign, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. The bill must usher in more vigilant—and public—Congressional oversight of EO 12333 and other NSA spying activities.

Unfortunately, the procedures in Section 309 reflect the current status quo: the over-collection, over-retention, and over-sharing of innocent users' communications. The procedures in Section 309 try to protect the communications of non-targets, but include massive loopholes. These loopholes do not grant any new authority, but they do allow the President to continue the egregious retention and sharing of innocent users' communication, which is a practice that must be stopped.

While the language in Section 309 was taken from the Senate Intelligence Authorization bill (.pdf), the House did not take time to debate it. We’ve learned over the past year that, at a minimum, both Congress and the public need time to read these intelligence bills and understand their implications. Yet again, this didn't happen. And yet again, the American public is left without a voice on the surveillance laws used to collect their communications.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/12/eff-statement-2015-intelligence-authorization-bill