Bush asks Congress to alter 1978 eavesdropping law

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - The Bush administration asked Congress on Friday to expand the number of people it can subject to electronic surveillance in the United States.

The request was contained in a proposed bill authored by intelligence and Justice Department officials that also protects companies that cooperate with spy operations.

Legislation submitted a week ahead of a Senate hearing on government surveillance practices calls for the 1978 law that governs eavesdropping operations to be updated to combat the threat from Islamist militants who use computer and wireless technology that did not exist in the 1970s.

It was not clear what kind of reception the proposal would receive in Congress, where Democrats took over in January for the first time since 1994.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13210904.htm

where you are already spying on everyone?>!

isn't enough.

Asking ISPs to store 3-5 years worth of traffic isn't enough?


GODDAMNIT! How much gall does that rat bastard have?

Right now anyone who makes a speech against George ends up on the No Fly list as a terrorist. That means he's going after political opposition and only a suicidal idiot would grant him that power.

and protect the telcos that cooperate. Typical of Bush & Co.

they're too incompetent to keep electronic records of their own.

the Dems have rolled over for 6 years- and they don't exactly seem to be in a hurry to serve subpoena's and hold people accountable with consequences even now. So why would he (or the rest of his pack of jackals) act any differently than he always has?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18046106/

WASHINGTON - President Bush’s spy chief is pushing to expand the government’s surveillance authority at the same time the administration is under attack for stretching its domestic eavesdropping powers.

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government’s powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, liberalizing how that law can be used.

Known as “FISA,” the 1978 law was passed to allow surveillance in espionage and other foreign intelligence investigations, but still allow federal judges on a secretive panel to ensure protections for U.S. citizens — at home or abroad — and other permanent U.S. residents.

Critics question whether the changes are needed and worry about what the Bush administration has in store, given a rash of allegations about domestic surveillance and abuse of power. “Congress should certainly be very skeptical about proposals to give this government greater powers to spy on its own citizens,” said Caroline Fredrickson, the Washington legislative office director for the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I'm a gonna wiretap his ass!!! heh heh heh"

sigh. I get so tired of living in an alternative universe.

Time to turn back the tide eroding our civil liberties.

Just say NO.

the illegal? No, thank you, W and AT&T and all. I dropped my Cingular One cell on Wednesday because they are now merged with the rats at AT&T. I repeat that Georgie does not need to spy on me; he can call me up and I will personally tell him exactly what I think of him.

:kick:

Source: reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration asked Congress on Friday to expand the number of people it can subject to electronic surveillance in the United States.

The request was contained in a proposed bill authored by intelligence and Justice Department officials that also protects companies that cooperate with spy operations.

Legislation submitted a week ahead of a Senate hearing on government surveillance practices calls for the 1978 law that governs eavesdropping operations to be updated to combat the threat from Islamist militants who use computer and wireless technology that did not exist in the 1970s.

It was not clear what kind of reception the proposal would receive in Congress, where Democrats took over in January for the first time since 1994.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1321090420070413

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And the answer is.......

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

cause it ain't gonna happen now..

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when this crossed the congressmans desks...

Assholes

Nope not a damn thing, so quit saying that.

Shrub's megalomania isn't entirely his fault ,which I'm sure he would agree with ,in a few years.

and see how that goes for the next two years.

Because the citizens of the United States did NOT.

...was written 4 years after he broke it!

These people are un-real.:banghead: :mad:

more and more citizens (not just democrats) are concerned about the erosion of privacy rights per the eavesdropping and spying - so what does Bushco do? Pushes for even *MORE* erosion of rights.

Rove, under attack, has again lost his political footing. Remember there are so many reports and events recently revealed confirm that this administration does NOT act for policy (this is not about terrorists) - it is all run by political calculations. Rove ran campaigns by the rule of take an opponents strength and run the campaign to smear that strength and make in neutral or worse. So now they run their policies as politics by the same philosophy. But Bush - who keeps Rove in position, and forces congressional repubs to toe the line or face potential political retribution - and Rove haven't recognized that the whole political landscape has been transformed - and the "good reading and good strategy" is now political suicide that they are inviting the whole republican party to take part in if they follow what was oncce successful strategy and now instead (if followed by all politicos in the party) is explosively harmful. In short, Roveco political strategy really appears to be poised on many fronts to be trying to take the whole party over the cliff.

under oath!!

and stop that mother fucker from breaking our laws and listening to our phones and reading our emails and spying on US citizens without a warrant!!

fly

keeps expanding their reach, even with the investigation machine ramping up and even as people realize we've lost too many liberties as it is. Bad timing, utter cluelessness, or wanton disregard of the cloud they are already under?

If I am Democrats I tell him to stick this up his ass and get the fucking impeachment papers in order.

How fucking ballsy to ask Congress for more dictatorial powers when he's pulling executive privilege on emails and refusing subpoenas.

Rp

up his mouth.

Senator LIBERAL voted AGAINST protecting Americans against another 9/11...

Picture of WTC.

Senator LIBERAL wants you to die. Painfully. Probably with gay-people germs on you, too.

I can see next year's TV commercials already...

But, you know what? Let 'em make those stupid ads. Bring it on. Let the Democrats fight against this. It won't be just dems fighting this, I'll bet money on it. If Bob Barr can see the light, I have faith that more can. This is wrong. This is another step in the power grab.

But will enough Democrats have the proverbial testicles to fight bullshit like this next election? And, even worse, are Americans smart enough to smell bullshit when it's under their noses? Sometimes I'm not so sure.

But sometimes I think you just have to believe. (Not that I always do.)

surely Bush would have found him by now?

wiretapping US citizens without warrants and now you want more ability to spy on people?"

I don't think so....

Maybe Pelosi, Waxman, Conyers et al should tell Bush and the WH to pay attention to keeping track of keeping their email instead.....

But the move was likely to reinvigorate a congressional debate over the effectiveness of the generation-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Several efforts to update the law, designed to oversee electronic eavesdropping against foreign agents operating inside the United States, failed in Congress last year.

"The Justice Department is selling this new bill as a better way to protect our privacy and civil liberties. Lawmakers should reject such false advertising," said Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union.

FISA, which requires the government to get court warrants for surveillance, was at the center of political controversy over President George W. Bush's domestic spying program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without warrants. Continued...