Scoop’s Views

Senate is rewarding telecommunications providers for breaking the law
York Times is reporting that the United States Senate, by a vote of 69-28, approved a bill overhauling the rules covering secret government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecommunications companies that aided in the wiretapping of Americans without warrants. Doing Chicago-style two-stepping, Barack Obama, who originally spoke harsh words against the illegal wiretaps, voted today in favor of granting immunity to the telecommunications companies. His former presidential contender, Hillary Clinton, stayed true to her original position and voted against the immunity.

Tags: Barack Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, David Stout, domestic spying, due process rights, eavesdropping, Eric Lichtblau, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigations, federal courts, FISA, foreign, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, illegal wiretapping, immunity, intrusions, mismanagement, National Security Agency, No Such Agency, NSA, phone subscibers, re-election, Senate, senators, telecommunications companies, telecoms, terrorist attacks, terrorists

A news alert from The New York Times came in two minutes ago announcing the U.S. Senate had just approved expansion of the federal government’s spy…

Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, crimes, cronies, DHS, domestic spying, FBI, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, John McCain, New York Times, news alert, NSA, polling booth, president, presidential election, revolt, revolution, Senate, senators, spy powers, spying, telephone companies, TIA, vote, wiretapping

When it enacted the Privacy Act in 1974, Congress sought to restrict the amount of personal information that federal agencies could collect and, significantly, required agencies to be transparent in their information practices. The Privacy Act is intended “to promote accountability, responsibility, legislative oversight, and open government with respect to the use of computer technology in the personal information systems and data banks of the Federal Government[.]” Adherence to these requirements is critical for a system like Secure Flight.

Tags: airlines, database, datamining, DHS, EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, passenger security, personal data, privacy, Privacy Act of 1974, Secure Flight, Technology, terror suspects, Transportation Security Administration, TSA