NSA reform may be the last true bipartisan issue.
Republicans won victories nationwide in Tuesdays midterm election, handily taking control of Congress and ousting two key criticsSenator Mark Udall (D. Colorado) and Senator Mark Begich (D. Alaska)of the NSA. The GOP takeover of the legislative branch means Republicans will chair all senate committees, including the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Privacy advocates like the ACLU are often aligned with the Democratic and liberal sides of politics, so it stands to reason that some might worry this would be a crushing blow to privacy. The biggest NSA defenders are Republicans; the Patriot Act that justifies much of the spying behavior disclosed by Edward Snowden was created and passed under a Republican administration and Congress; and a majority of Republican lawmakers have voted to enhance those spying powers over the years, even after the Snowden information was revealed.
Further, 2015 is shaping up to be a key year in the fight for privacy in the post-Snowden era. A number of provisions of the Patriot Act will be up for reauthorization next June. The USA Freedom Act, which aims to curtail NSA powers, will also finally be up for consideration in the Senate. With more than half of the American people disapproving of the NSAs activities, reform is a clearly pressing issue.
Yet, a Republican majority in the House and Senate is not the devastating blow to privacy you might have expected it to be. Here are four reasons why.
Though NSA reform once was a partisan issue, Edward Snowdens revelations of the depth of government surveillance united Democrats and Republicans in calling for an overhaul. Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, says its too early to tell what direction the new leadership will go, but she says the issue of NSA reform is not a one-senator or a one-party issue.
Take Colorado, for instance. Outgoing Democratic Senator Mark Udall was one of the Senate intelligence committees few members who persistently criticized the agencies it oversaw. He fought all expansions of NSA reach and opposed using drones to spy on US citizens, introduing a bill in 2013 to ensure private drone operators could not spy on people in this country.
If he were to be replaced by a pro-NSA senator, the weight of the reform movement would have become severely unbalanced.
In fact, Republican Cory Gardner, who beat Udall handily by 4 percentage points, has such a good record on privacy that Udall was essentially unable to run on his own sterling record. Gardner recently reversed his position on matters of privacy. Though he initially voted for the updated and expanded Patriot Act in 2011 (which Udall was staunchly against), Gardners record changed dramatically after Snowdens NSA revelations, consistently voting against expanding NSA reach. As a congressman, he co-sponsored the EFF-backed version of the new USA Freedom Act.
This kind of bipartisan support for privacy issues is not unique to Colorado, as one look at the congressional scorecard compiled by the coalition for StandAgainstSpying reveals.
View original post here:
Republicans Taking Over Congress Isnt the Privacy Nightmare Youd Think
- WikiLeaks' Julian Assange: NSA critics got lucky because agency had no PR strategy [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- National Speakers Association New Jersey Chapter NSA [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- National Security Agency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- NSA - Satu Hari Di Bulan Juni (TULUS) (COVER) - Video [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- Hong Kong: Protesters blow whistles for NSA whistle blower - Video [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- An Inside Look at the NSA With Whistleblower William Binney (Part 2 of 2) - Video [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- UK: China will offer fig leaves to US exposed by NSA leaker - Assange - Video [Last Updated On: April 26th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 26th, 2014]
- NSA ~ (Autodidactism) Whistleblowing - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- Dropping #NSA Knowledge Like a Clumsy Librarian - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- Full Show: Disband The NSA or; Corruption in the Capitol FO SHIZZLE {aTV002} - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- NSA DOCUMENTARY SIX YEARS BEFORE SNOWDEN - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- ShmooCon 2014: The NSA: Capabilities and Countermeasures - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- NSA Knew Of Heartbleed Bug, Refused To Protect Americans - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- Former NSA Head To Become Columnist For Conservative Paper To Discuss Intelligence - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- An Inside Look at the NSA With Whistleblower William Binney (Part 1 of 2) - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- Keynote Address by Shri Shivshankar Menon, NSA at International Seminar on Kautilya - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- NSA Wiretapping: A 4th Amendment Violation?: Blake Norvell at TEDxSMU - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- Hang with Rand: Email Privacy, NSA Spying, and Defending Our Civil Liberties - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- NSA Surveillance and What To Do About It - Bruce Schneier - Video [Last Updated On: April 27th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 27th, 2014]
- READER SUBMITTED: NSA CT April 2014 Meeting [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2014]
- MVI 1847 Obama's NSA Denies FOIA About MH 370! - Video [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2014]
- George Galloway's Sputnik: Ewen MacAskill on Guardian / Edward Snowden NSA leaks (26Apr14) - Video [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2014]
- CIA & NSA DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON ATTACK ON WHISTLE BLOWER - Video [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2014]
- Book TV - 2014 San Antonio Book Festival: Panel on the NSA, Big Brother, and Democracy - Video [Last Updated On: April 28th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 28th, 2014]
- NSA Throwdown: John Oliver v. 60 Minutes [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- NSA will sit on security vulnerabilities because of terrorism [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- New water records show NSA Utah Data Center likely behind schedule [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- MVI 1871 NSA Might Be OnTo Me! - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- ZyXEL NSA 325 v2 Hands On - Deutsch / German notebooksbilliger.de - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- German opposition says US should destroy Merkel's NSA file - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- Germany: NSA spying "unacceptable" says SPD - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- NSA Surveillance 2 - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- NSA Surveillance Panel 1 - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- Chalk Talk How Snowden Breached NSA Security - Video [Last Updated On: April 29th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 29th, 2014]
- NSA reveals some cyber security flaws are left secret [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2014]
- NSA data center uses less water than expected [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2014]
- April 2014 Breaking News Do you use Google or Yahoo? NSA Intercepts Google And Yahoo Traffic - Video [Last Updated On: April 30th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 30th, 2014]
- Supreme Court could weigh in on NSA case, justice says [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- New NSA chief: Agency has lost trust [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- NSA on Heartbleed: 'We're not legally allowed to lie to you' [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- What's The NSA Doing Now? Training More Cyberwarriors [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Anonymous NSA - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Cutting off H2O to the NSA - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Brazil: Greenwald slams US media, shares tips to avoid NSA - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- NSA IS TRYINGG 2 KILL ME FAMS - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- What was more popular on Twitter, NSA, NRA or NBA..today? - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- CIS111: NSA Uncovered - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (6/6) - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (4/6) - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (3/6) - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (2/6) - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (1/6) - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Germany: NSA may have accidentally outed secret base - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- ZyXEL NSA 325 v2 Installations-Wizard - Deutsch / German notebooksbilliger.de - Video [Last Updated On: May 1st, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 1st, 2014]
- Tech firms to increase alerts about police requests for data -- report [Last Updated On: May 2nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 2nd, 2014]
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits US, after the NSA eavesdropping scandal - Video [Last Updated On: May 2nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 2nd, 2014]
- NSA spies on more US citizens than Russians Snowden [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2014]
- THE NEXT NSA?Police under scrutiny for using spying technology [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2014]
- Ukraine and NSA will test Merkel - Video [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2014]
- The Latest Attacks On NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden - Kevin Gosztola Discusses - Video [Last Updated On: May 3rd, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 3rd, 2014]
- Still Report #246 - NSA Classifies MH370 Material - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- Code Talker Induction into NSA Hall of Honor - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- NSA ( National Security Agency ) refusal to release documents on UFO's - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- Obama & NSA Refuse FOIA Request on Malaysia Flight deemed classified - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- Kafkawinstons World`s Channel Terminated NSA is replacing Channel`s with Sockpuppet Channel`s - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- NSA Volunteer Justin Hall at the NSA Comedy Tour February 2014 - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- Barack Obama on NSA Surveillance I'd Be Concerned Too If I Wasn't in Government - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- GBPPR Vision #26: Overview of the NSA's TAWDRYYARD Radar Retro-Reflector - Video [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2014]
- NSA proof phone Case - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- 2014 NSA 2014 Million Dollar Publisher's Lab - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- Gen. Michael Hayden - the Former Director of NSA and the CIA - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- REVEALED: Here's The Solution To That Encoded NSA Puzzle Tweet [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- Michael Hayden's Unwitting Case Against Secret Surveillance [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- NSA's Encrypted Tweet: We're Hiring Code Breakers [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- Russ Tice: Life as a NSA Whistleblower - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- What Is Going on at NSA These Days - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- What is the Role of the NSA? AFF Dallas Debates - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- Edward Snowden said CIA , and NSA had 52. 6 Billion for black budget - Video [Last Updated On: May 5th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 5th, 2014]
- NSA looks to appeal to young cryptographers through coded ads [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2014]
- Code Cracked: Mysterious NSA Tweet Is Decrypted in Seconds [Last Updated On: May 6th, 2014] [Originally Added On: May 6th, 2014]