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Anti Federalist
09-27-2010, 11:46 AM
U.S. to make Internet wiretaps easier

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39379819/ns/technology_and_science-security

WASHINGTON — Broad new regulations being drafted by the Obama administration would make it easier for law enforcement and national security officials to eavesdrop on Internet and e-mail communications like social networking websites and BlackBerrys, The New York Times reported Monday.

The newspaper said the White House plans to submit a bill next year that would require all online services that enable communications to be technically equipped to comply with a wiretap order. That would include providers of encrypted e-mail, such as BlackBerry, networking sites like Facebook and direct communication services like Skype.

Federal law enforcement and national security officials say new the regulations are needed because terrorists and criminals are increasingly giving up their phones to communicate online.


"We're talking about lawfully authorized intercepts," said FBI lawyer Valerie E. Caproni. "We're not talking about expanding authority. We're talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security."

The White House plans to submit the proposed legislation to Congress next year.

Privacy vs. national security

The new regulations would raise fresh questions about protecting people's privacy while balancing national security concerns.

James Dempsey, the vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet policy group, said the new regulations would have "huge implications."

"They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function," he told the Times.

The Times said the Obama proposal would likely include several requires:

—Any service that provides encrypted messages must be capable of unscrambling them.

—Any foreign communications providers that do business in the U.S. would have to have an office in the United States that's capable of providing intercepts.

—Software developers of peer-to-peer communications services would be required to redesign their products to allow interception.

The Times said that some privacy and technology advocates say the regulations would create weaknesses in the technology that hackers could more easily exploit

newyearsrevolution08
09-27-2010, 12:04 PM
makes sense

it will make us safer right?

that is what we need?

for the children and all

phill4paul
09-27-2010, 12:08 PM
Obviously they need to make it easier as the FBI agents now are forced to cheat on their tests regarding the civil liberties of individuals.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – FBI agents and several supervisors cheated on an exam about new rules for terrorism and criminal investigations and for collecting foreign intelligence, according to a U.S. Justice Department report released on Monday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100927/us_nm/us_usa_security_fbi

HOLLYWOOD
09-27-2010, 12:20 PM
Status Quo and definite pattern with Obama Warrantless spying on Americas... "Look at the New Boss, same as the Old Boss. It all proves it's the Duopoly of Tyranny by both powers.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush

April 7th, 2009 In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush)


We had hoped this would go differently.
Friday evening, in a motion to dismiss (http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/04/05) Jewel v. NSA, EFF's litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans, the Obama Administration made two deeply troubling arguments.

First, they argued, exactly as the Bush Administration did on countless occasions, that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. They argue that simply allowing the case to continue "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security." As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence.

It's an especially disappointing argument to hear from the Obama Administration. As a candidate, Senator Obama lamented (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/) that the Bush Administration "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court." He was right then, and we're dismayed that he and his team seem to have forgotten.

Sad as that is, it's the Department Of Justice's second argument that is the most pernicious. The DOJ claims that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying — that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes.

This is a radical assertion that is utterly unprecedented. No one — not the White House, not the Justice Department, not any member of Congress, and not the Bush Administration — has ever interpreted the law this way.

angelatc
09-27-2010, 12:25 PM
bump

Matt Collins
09-27-2010, 02:37 PM
The EFF has the best writeup of this:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/government-seeks