Snowden welcomes Obama's plans for NSA reform as 'turning point'

[Roma_Victrix]

Snowden welcomes Obama's plans for NSA reform as 'turning point'
• President has confirmed the US plans to end bulk collection
• NSA whistleblower praises action by Congress as deal nears

The National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has welcomed plans by Barack Obama to end the practice of systematically storing Americans’ telephone data.

In a statement through the American Civil Liberties Union, Snowden said the plans outlined by Obama were a “turning point”.

Obama confirmed on Tuesday that the US plans to end the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records, admitting that trust in country’s intelligence services had been shaken and pledging to address the concerns of privacy advocates.

At the same time, leaders of the House intelligence committee said they were close to a deal with the White House to revamp the surveillance program. Another reform proposal, the USA Freedom Act, would go further.

Snowden said none of these reforms would have happened without the disclosures he precipitated. “I believed that if the NSA's unconstitutional mass surveillance of Americans was known, it would not survive the scrutiny of the courts, the Congress, and the people,” Snowden said.

"The very first open and adversarial court to ever judge these programs has now declared them 'Orwellian' and 'likely unconstitutional.' In the USA Freedom Act, Congress is considering historic, albeit incomplete reforms. And President Obama has now confirmed that these mass surveillance programs, kept secret from the public and defended out of reflex rather than reason, are in fact unnecessary and should be ended.

"This is a turning point, and it marks the beginning of a new effort to reclaim our rights from the NSA and restore the public's seat at the table of government."

Obama conceded that the Snowden revelations had caused trust in the US to plunge around the world.

“We have got to win back the trust not just of governments, but, more importantly, of ordinary citizens. And that's not going to happen overnight, because there's a tendency to be sceptical of government and to be sceptical of the US intelligence services,” Obama said at a news conference in The Hague, where world leaders are gathered for a summit on nuclear security.

Obama said he believed that reform proposals presented to him by the US intelligence agencies were “workable”, and would “eliminate” the concerns of privacy campaigners. “I am confident that it allows us to do what is necessary in order to deal with the threat of a terrorist attack, but does so in a way that addresses people's concerns,” he said.

Well, this is a rather big development, I would say!

I've read in another article that the Bush-era NSA practice of collecting bulk phone record data for five solid years is being completely scrapped. The policy will instead revert back to the previous model where private corporations were the only ones to hold these records, and only for 18 months. Hooray! From that article:

A review group appointed by Mr. Obama and an independent federal privacy watchdog both called for major changes to the program; the latter also concluded that the bulk collection is illegal, rejecting the government’s Patriot Act interpretation.

Government spooks: 0
Democratic values: 1



Snowden, you sir have been vindicated. And by none other than the POTUS himself. That being said, we're going to hunt you down like the evil oath-breaking Lefty terrorist you are, hippie!

[mrmouth]

For anyone to think that the US government would willfully put itself at risk in areas of electronic security and intelligence, that they have been tossing billions of dollars at to build up, because a group of tech-giant CEOs visited the White House on two occasions to plead with the POTUS that this was negatively effecting their public image (because this isn't about Russian loving Snowden now) - is phenomenally naive.

This happened now, because the powers that be have had time to design ways to bury these things even deeper and prevent future Snowden's from being pudds. And until I am actually, negatively effected by any of this NSA crap, I don't care one bit. It's just a pulpit for anti-US, the naive, and the conspiracy types.

[Armenum]

Impressed that Obama is finally doing this reform. But the cynical me, believes that he will try to continue that practice via a different method and one that is better disclosed from the public.

[Admiral Piett]

This changes not a damned thing. At the very same time this was announced, the intelligence agencies circulated memos and policy changes that put a KGB-esque policy of "see something, say something" if you suspect an information leak or whistle-blower.

[Pontifex Maximus]

This changes not a damned thing. At the very same time this was announced, the intelligence agencies circulated memos and policy changes that put a KGB-esque policy of "see something, say something" if you suspect an information leak or whistle-blower.

Yup.

Let's not forget Obama is stupidly good at making vague promises that everyone can nod at in agreement and then does nothing. "We are investigating"/"We are looking into"/"We are taking measures to"

[Euphoric]

I remain skeptical that either Democrats or Republicans seek to curb the NSA. This is probably just PR damage control by the Obama administration, not meaningful change.

[Roma_Victrix]

I remain skeptical that either Democrats or Republicans seek to curb the NSA. This is probably just PR damage control by the Obama administration, not meaningful change.

It's rare these days to get bipartisan support on any issue, but this is certainly (and sadly) one of them.

Being sceptical about this, or even expressing cynicism, is not objectionable. That's a reasonable approach, of course, given the reputation that the government has made for itself. That being said, I still view this as a gain and momentum moving in the people's favor. The government will officially relinquish its mass of phone record data taken from all the major carriers and leave it to the phone companies themselves to retain that information for a much more limited span of time. At least acknowledge that it's a good start, if not a "turning point" as Snowden argues.

Meanwhile, the NSA will probably come up with 60 other ways to undermine our constitutional rights before we've sat down tomorrow afternoon to have our lunch.

[Heathen Hammer]

Obama's plans to "reform" NSA may turn out as empty populist promises, just like his promise to shut down Gitmo. He cried "wolf" way to many times for people to believe him.

[Slydessertfox]

Obama's plans to "reform" NSA may turn out as empty populist promises, just like his promise to shut down Gitmo. He cried "wolf" way to many times for people to believe him.

Closing Gitmo is for Congress to do...

[Roma_Victrix]

Closing Gitmo is for Congress to do...

And we all know how much presidential pressure and heat Obama has applied to Congress to get that legislative ball rolling.

[Slydessertfox]

And we all know how much presidential pressure and heat Obama has applied to Congress to get that legislative ball rolling.

Because we all know how Obama applying pressure to Congress ever turns out...when he gets involved actively, they tell him to stay away. When he stays away, they tell him he's not involved enough.

[Heathen Hammer]

Closing Gitmo is for Congress to do...

Same excuse will be used for his failure to limit NSA as well.

[Slydessertfox]

Same excuse will be used for his failure to limit NSA as well.

It's not an excuse-it's how the American government functions-or, doesn't function. Congress has used its spending oversight authority both to forbid the White House from financing trials of Guantánamo captives on U.S. soil and to block the acquisition of a state prison in Illinois to hold captives currently held in Cuba who would not be put on trial .

[Heathen Hammer]

It's not an excuse-it's how the American government functions-or, doesn't function. Congress has used its spending oversight authority both to forbid the White House from financing trials of Guantánamo captives on U.S. soil and to block the acquisition of a state prison in Illinois to hold captives currently held in Cuba who would not be put on trial .

So yeah, I'll buy that when I see some actual results, not just empty promises. So far Obama seems to rely on making populist promises, while actually continuing Dubya's policies. Goes to show how meaningless the whole Democrat vs. Republican thing is.

[Thorn777]

GCHQ was doing most of the "illegal in America" stuff for the NSA already and Im sure they will continue and grow best korea type stronger. Its not like the UK economy can live on sound things. Its a buccaneer haven for dandy sounding proffisionals who also need jobs. I mean millions of jobs in drugtrafficking, prostitution, pension-looting and mass surveillance are at stacke here.

[Rijul.J.Ballal]

Blanket actions to appease the public, nothing shall change.

[Gaidin]

Blanket actions to appease the public, nothing shall change.

There's literally a policy in place for the phone companies holding similar data for a lesser time should agencies come to them with warrants. Theoretically the President can given an order ending it, but that's temporary as it can start up with the next President. Better if congress passes a bill and the President signs it into law saying the such can't be done by the agencies.

Or did you not read any of these articles?

[snuggans]

5 things you need to know about Obama's NSA proposal

forced into wasting time and funds on damage control, all thanks to the fallout from a guy who was entrusted with sensitive information, was personally wronged or ignored by the agency, and then ironically runs off to a country with terrible civil liberties so he could then harp on about how much of a boogeyman the NSA is.

[Heathen Hammer]

5 things you need to know about Obama's NSA proposal

forced into wasting time and funds on damage control, all thanks to the fallout from a guy who was entrusted with sensitive information, was personally wronged or ignored by the agency, and then ironically runs off to a country with terrible civil liberties so he could then harp on about how much of a boogeyman the NSA is.

Is that the General Party Line these days?
If NSA is so great, then why did Dear Leader promise to reform it?

[snuggans]

If NSA is so great,

how did you infer that from my post? i want you to give me the step by step, detailed explanations recounting all the acrobatic leaps and strawman-placing required to arrive at this interpretation of my post.

am i jumping for joy that in this day and age there is the very apparent need for such a potentially abusive system?

you think i must have really enjoyed the stupidly long delays involved in the naturalization process in a post 9/11 US?

the NSA is not "so great", but Snowden is definitely a clown.