This June 6, 2013, file photo, shows the National Security Agency's Utah Data Center in Bluffdale, Utah. Congressional leaders have quietly deleted a measure meant to stop the National Security Agency's "backdoor" surveillance of American communications from a major spending bill. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Congressional leaders have quietly deleted a measure meant to stop the National Security Agency's "backdoor" surveillance of American communications from a major spending bill.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in June to ban the NSA from searching for Americans' communications in surveillance collected while targeting foreigners. But the omnibus spending package unveiled Tuesday night -- a piece of legislation that must pass to avoid a government showdown -- chucks that NSA safeguard.

"I'm watching the will of the people be subverted. Our representative democracy has been short-circuited with this omnibus," said Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), a Republican who co-sponsored the original NSA reform measure with Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.).

In place of the backdoor surveillance ban is language that states the NSA must not "target" American citizens' content for surveillance. But the agency's highly specific definition of targeting would still allow it to collect and search Americans' emails as long as they are sent abroad.

"It is a complete placebo. It is restatement of existing law," said Massie. "I'm almost embarrassed that they put it in the bill, because it does absolutely nothing."

Part continuing resolution and part omnibus, the so-called cromnibus incorporates the defense appropriations act the Massie amendment was attached to and was designed by House and Senate leadership. That includes House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Massie previously told HuffPost that McCarthy wrote a slanted description of his amendment that was distributed in the House cloakroom before the June vote. The leadership also includes Senate Appropriations Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who represents thousands of NSA employees.

Massie said he didn't know who blocked the NSA reform.

Senate Appropriations spokesman Vincent Morris did not weigh in on who stripped the backdoor spying ban, but said the alternate language about targeting that Massie called a placebo "has been in the bill for a year and is not new." A House leadership spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The Massie-Lofgren amendment passed the House on a 293-123 vote in June, with majority support from members of both parties. Its quiet death underscores the obstacles to surveillance reform in the face of deep opposition from intelligence agencies. A Senate NSA reform bill sponsored by Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) died in November when it got 58 votes, two short of the number needed to end debate under Senate rules.

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Backroom Move Strips 'Backdoor' NSA Spying Ban From ...

Congress this week quietly passed a bill that may give unprecedented legal authority to the government's warrantless surveillance powers, despite a last-minute effort by Rep. Justin Amash to kill the bill.

Amash staged an aggressive eleventh-hour rally Wednesday night to block passage of the Intelligence Authorization Act, which will fund intelligence agencies for the next fiscal year. The Michigan Republican sounded alarms over recently amended language in the package that he said will for the first time give congressional backing to a controversial Reagan-era decree granting broad surveillance authority to the president.

The 47-page intelligence bill was headed toward a voice vote when Amash rose to the House floor to ask for a roll call. Despite his effortswhich included a "Dear Colleague" letter sent to all members of the House urging a no votethe bill passed 325-100, with 55 Democrats and 45 Republicans opposing.

The provision in question is "one of the most egregious sections of law I've encountered during my time as a representative," Amash wrote on his Facebook page. The tea-party libertarian, who teamed up with Rep. John Conyers last year in an almost-successful bid to defund the National Security Agency in the wake of the Snowden revelations, warned that the provision "grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American."

The measure already passed the Senate by unanimous consent on Tuesday, and it is now on its way to the White House, where President Obama is expected to sign it.

The objections from Amash and others arose from language in the bill's Section 309, which includes a phrase to allow for "the acquisition, retention, and dissemination" of U.S. phone and Internet data. That passage, they warn, will give unprecedented statutory authority to allow for the surveillance of private communications that currently exists only under a decades-old presidential decree, known as Executive Order 12333.

"If this hadn't been snuck in, I doubt it would have passed," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who voted against the bill. "A lot of members were not even aware that this new provision had been inserted last-minute. Had we been given an additional day, we may have stopped it."

A spokesman for the Senate Intelligence Committee pushed back on claims that the section will strengthen NSA surveillance authority.

"Nothing in Section 309 authorizes any intelligence collection/acquisition at all," the spokesman said in an email."The only thing the section does is require new procedures governing the information the [intelligence community] already collects. The purpose of the section is to limit the [intelligence community's] existing ability to retain information, including U.S. person information."

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Congress Quietly Bolsters NSA Spying in Intelligence Bill ...

Lucas Mearian | Dec. 16, 2014

Survey shows 83 percent believe Internet access should be a basic human right.

Credit: ThinkStock/ Computerworld

An international survey of Internet users has found that more than 39% have taken steps to protect their online privacy and security as a result of spying revelations by one-time NSA employee Edward Snowden.

The survey, conducted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), found that 43% of Internet users now avoid certain websites and applications and 39% change their passwords regularly.

The survey reached 23,376 Internet users in 24 countries and was conducted between Oct. 7 and Nov. 12.

The countries in the survey included Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the United States.

Cryptographer and computer security specialist Bruce Schneier lamented how the survey's findings have been portrayed, with some pointing out how few people were affected by Snowden's actions or even know his name.

"The press is mostly spinning this as evidence that Snowden has not had an effect: "merely 39%," "only 39%," and so on," Schneier wrote in a blog.

The news articles, "are completely misunderstanding the data," Schneier said, pointing to the fact that the survey found that 39% of Internet users in the world have heard of Snowden.

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After the Snowden leaks, 700 million move to avoid NSA spying

Nearly 700 million people worldwide have taken steps to ensure their privacy from NSA surveillance, according to an international survey on Internet security and trust.

An international survey of Internet users has found that more than 39% have taken steps to protect their online privacy and security as a result of spying revelations by one-time NSA employee Edward Snowden.

The survey, conducted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), found that 43% of Internet users now avoid certain websites and applications and 39% change their passwords regularly.

The survey reached 23,376 Internet users in 24 countries and was conducted between Oct. 7 and Nov. 12.

The countries in the survey included Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the United States.

Cryptographer and computer security specialist Bruce Schneier lamented how the survey's findings have been portrayed, with some pointing out how few people were affected by Snowden's actions or even know his name.

"The press is mostly spinning this as evidence that Snowden has not had an effect: "merely 39%," "only 39%," and so on," Schneier wrote in a blog.

The news articles, "are completely misunderstanding the data," Schneier said, pointing to the fact that the survey found that 39% of Internet users in the world have heard of Snowden.

Snowden's whistleblowing on the NSA is having an enormous impact, Schneier wrote.

"I ran the actual numbers country by country, combining data on Internet penetration with data from this survey. Multiplying everything out, I calculate that 706 million people have changed their behavior on the Internet because of what the NSA and GCHQ [a British intelligence and security organization] are doing.

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After the Snowden leaks, 700M move to avoid NSA spying

DC Pork Bill Passed, Torture Report Distraction, Congress Allows All NSA Spying
It looks like the House voted not to shut down the government with the budget it just passed. Conservative Republicans hate that Obama Care and illegal immig...

By: Greg Hunter

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DC Pork Bill Passed, Torture Report Distraction, Congress Allows All NSA Spying - Video

Executive Branch OverreachNSA Spying
Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, discusses the evolution of the National Security Agency from a focus on foreign intelligence gathering to blanket...

By: RealClear Radio Hour

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Executive Branch Overreach—NSA Spying - Video

12/8/14 Happening On The Hill Update
This week, Josh Withrow gives an update on the compromise(d) omnibus spending bill, Rep. Thomas Massie #39;s amendment against NSA spying, a House hearing involving ObamaCare architect ...

By: FreedomWorks

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12/8/14 Happening On The Hill Update - Video

German lawmakers probing the surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency have uncovered a legal loophole that allows the country's foreign intelligence agency to spy on its own citizens.

The agency, known by its German acronym BND, is normally forbidden from eavesdropping on Germans or German companies.

But a formerBNDlawyer told Parliament this week that Germans aren't protected while working abroad for foreign companies.

The government confirmed Saturday to The Associated Press that work-related calls or emails are attributed to the employer. If the employer is foreign, theBNDcan intercept them.

Opposition lawmakers have accused Germany's government of feigning outrage over allegedNSAspying while condoning illegal surveillance itself.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to U.S. President Barack Obama in October after receiving information her phone may have been monitored. (Michael Kappeler/Associated Press)

Chancellor AngelaMerkelcomplained to U.S. President Barack Obama in October after receiving information her phone may have been monitored.

News magazineDerSpiegel, whose research prompted the government's response, reported that a document apparently from anNSAdatabase indicatesMerkel'scellphone was first listed as a target in 2002.

The Obama administration's rebuttal to outrage has been that the U.S. is gathering foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations and that it's necessary to protect the U.S. and its allies against security threats.

Germany and France have demanded that the Obama administration agree by year's end to new rules that could mean an end to reported American eavesdropping on foreign leaders, companies and innocent citizens.

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In NSA spying probe, Germany discovers it can spy on its ...

House lawmakers are attempting to revive a popular bill that would limit the National Security Agency's ability to spy on Americans' communications data, a day after the measure was left out from ongoing government funding negotiations.

The measure, dubbed the Secure Data Act and spearheaded by Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, would block the NSA and other intelligence agencies from compelling tech companies to create so-called backdoor vulnerabilities into their devices or software. Sen. Ron Wyden, also a Democrat, introduced a similar version of the bill earlier Thursday.

A Lofgren aide said the bill is expected to be introduced later Thursday with Republican cosponsors.

A broader form of the legislation overwhelmingly passed the House in June with bipartisan support on a 293-123 vote, in the form of an amendment tacked on to a defense appropriations bill. That previous bill additionally would have prevented intelligence agencies from engaging in content surveillance of Americans' communications data without a warrant.

But the language was left out of ongoing negotiations between both chambers over a spending package that would fund most government agencies into next year. The House has additionally barred amendments to that omnibus measure, a common practice.

On Thursday, 30 civil-liberties groups of both liberal and conservative leanings wrote to House leadership to urge it to retain the proposal as part of its funding package.

"Failing to include this amendment in the forthcoming FY15 omnibus will send a clear message to Americans that Congress does not care if the NSA searches their stored communications or if the government pressures American technology companies to build vulnerabilities into their products that assist in NSA surveillance," read the letter, whose signatories include the Electronic Frontier Foundation and TechFreedom.

Despite the sudden push and the margin with which the bill passed this summer, it remains unlikely the bill will move forward in lame-duck session, given the closed amendment process on the funding proposals. Aides to both Lofgren and Wyden conceded the reintroduction was largely to set goalposts for negotiations next year.

Broader NSA reform efforts crumbled in the Senate last month, as the USA Freedom Act came up two votes short of advancing. The lack of NSA reform this year has many privacy advocates worried that their cause faces an uphill battle in 2015, as Republicans retake the Senate.

Key portions of the post-9/11 Patriot Act are due to expire in June of next year, however, including Section 215, which grants the government much of its bulk spying authority. Congress will have to reauthorize the provisions in some fashion or risk losing even greater surveillance authority.

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Lawmakers to Reintroduce Bill to Limit NSA Spying

Seattle, WA - infoZine - An appeals court will hear oral arguments in Smith v. Obama, a case filed by an Idaho nurse against a controversial National Security Agency (NSA) telephone data collection program, in Seattle on Monday, Dec. 8.

Anna Smith, a neonatal nurse from Coeur d'Alene, filed her lawsuit against President Barack Obama and several U.S. intelligence agencies in June 2013, shortly after the government confirmed that the NSA was collecting telephone records on a massive scale under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Smith, a Verizon customer, argues the program violated her Fourth Amendment rights by amassing a wealth of detail about her familial, political, professional, religious, and intimate associations. Following a district court ruling against Smith, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho joined the case as co-counsel in July 2014 to assist in crafting the appeal.

EFF presented appellate oral arguments in a similar case, Klayman v. Obama, last month. On Dec. 18, EFF will present arguments in San Francisco in Jewel v. NSA, asking the court to find that the NSA's mass copying of Internet communications violates the Fourth Amendment. EFF's other challenge to NSA surveillance, First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. NSA, remains pending before a trial judge.

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Oral Arguments in Idaho Woman's Case Against NSA Spying, Monday