Before May, Congress has no alternative but to endorse or end NSA spying on the phone calls of virtually every American. What does the new party in charge want?

Toby Melville/Reuters

The Patriot Act substantially expires in May 2015.

When the new Congress takes up its reauthorization, mere months after convening, members will be forced to decide what to do about Section 215 of the law, the provision cited by the NSA to justify logging most every telephone call made by Americans.

With Republicans controlling both the Senate and the House, the GOP faces a stark choice. Is a party that purports to favor constitutional conservatism and limited government going to ratify mass surveillance that makes a mockery of the Fourth Amendment? Will Mitch McConnell endorse a policy wherein the Obama administration logs and stores every telephone number dialed or received by Roger Ailes of Fox News, Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, the Koch brothers, the head of every pro-life organization in America, and every member of the Tea Party? Is the GOP House going to sacrifice the privacy of all its constituents to NSA spying that embodies the generalized warrants so abhorrent to the founders?

The issue divides elected Republicans. Senator Rand Paul and Representative Justin Amash are among those wary of tracking the phone calls of millions of innocent people. Senator Richard Burr favors doing it. Republicans pondering a run for president in 2016 will be trying to figure out how mass surveillance will play in that campaign.

Many would rather not take any stand before May, as if governingthe very job citizens are paying them to dois some sort of trap. But their preferences don't matter. This fight is unavoidable.

Nor is it the only one that touches on surveillance. The dubiously named USA Freedom Act began as an effort to reform the NSA and has since been weakened. The NSA and FBI engages in lots of questionable surveillance besides the phone dragnet. Republicans will now run the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Rather than urging the GOP to avoid "the governing trap," National Review and other outlets purportedly dedicated to constitutional conservatism ought to be demanding that Republicans use their newfound power to rein in our surveillance bureaucracy, since anyone with a healthy mistrust of government should see how easily its staggering power, exercised in secret, could be ruinous to liberty. A limited-government movement that does not demand oversight and reform now that its party has regained power is a farce. To endorse the national surveillance bureaucracy as it now stands is tantamount to declaring oneself a trusting statist.

And opposing it would be a populist victory that puts Republicans in a position to truthfully brag about fighting to save core liberties from Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and every other prominent Democratic apologist for the NSA.

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Now the GOP Must Choose: Mass Surveillance or Privacy?

There is some confusion of whether the statue's removal was due to homophobia, NSA spying, or repairs.

Russia is not taking Tim Cook's coming out announcement very well. In the country's latest protest of the Apple CEO's now-public sexual orientation, a giant iPhone statue erected in memory of Steve Jobs has been removed.

The Western European Financial Union (ZEFS), which installed the memorial early last year, has dismantled the interactive monumentbecause Cook is "promoting homosexuality."

As reported by the Ekho Moskvy news site, ZEFS disconnected the statue "pursuant to Russian federal law on the protection of children from information that promotes the denial of traditional family values."

The 6-foot-6-inch installation, which stood in the courtyard of the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) in St. Petersburg, was built to teach students about the life and work of Jobs, who passed away in 2011.

Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO several months before Jobs's death, and has thus far kept his personal life private despite running one of the most scrutinized companies in the world. Cook broke his silence last week, though, to announce that he is gay.

"I've come to realize that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important," Cook wrote in an op-ed for Bloomberg.

"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he continued. "So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy."

The news was not well-received by Vitaly Milonov, Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and notable homophobe, who quickly proclaimed that he wants a lifetime prohibition on Cook's entrance into Russia.

ZEFS has taken a similarly unsupportive approach, claiming that Cook "has publicly called for sodomy."

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Report: Russia Yanks Jobs Memorial After Cook Comes Out

Victorious Lawsuit Against The NSA
In a WND TV interview, Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, talks about his victorious lawsuit against portions of the NSA spying program, and what we can expect in the near future.

By: WNDTV

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Victorious Lawsuit Against The NSA - Video

Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden in "Citizenfour." RADiUS-TWC (The Denver Post | RADiUS-TWC)

Documentary. Not rated. 113 minutes.

Citizenfour: Hedline for a severly truncated movie review

Information is a weapon that cuts both ways in Laura Poitras' extraordinary portrait of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Ronnie Scheib No amount of familiarity with whistleblower Edward Snowden and his shocking revelations of the U.S. government's wholesale spying on its own citizens can prepare one for the impact of Laura Poitras' extraordinary documentary "Citizenfour." Far from reconstructing or analyzing a fait accompli, the film tersely records the deed in real time, as Poitras and fellow journalist Glenn Greenwald meet Snowden over an eight-day period in a Hong Kong hotel room to plot how and when they will unleash the bombshell that shook the world. Adapting the cold language of data encryption to recount a dramatic saga of abuse of power and justified paranoia, Poitras brilliantly demonstrates that information is a weapon that cuts both ways.

"Citizenfour" reps the final installment of the Oscar-nominated Poitras' trilogy on post-9/11 America (following 2006's "My Country, My Country" and 2010's "The Oath"). She was already two years deep into a film about surveillance when contacted by the pseudonymous "Citizenfour," who sought her help in exposing proof of the government's indiscriminate gathering and processing of U.S. citizens' e-mails, cellphone conversations, bank accounts and digital transactions. Chosen because she herself had withstood countless invasive acts of targeted surveillance, Poitras quickly agreed. She then convinced Snowden, who had already decided to reveal his identity once his info was safely delivered, to be filmed.

Snowden makes clear that he lacks both the desire and the competence to decide which information to make public; rather, he believes, it is the job of the journalists to whom he transmits the data (Poitras, Greenwald and, to a lesser degree, U.K. intelligence journalist Ewen MacAskill) to avoid releasing any documents that could compromise national security. Snowden voices deep concerns that "personality journalism" may wind up making him the story, rather than his revelations. If he hides, speculation about his identity will dominate the conversation. But if he reveals himself, how can he avoid becoming the media's diversionary target? As it turns out, his apprehensions are well justified, as Snowden becomes a more visible presence and talked-about phenomenon than the NSA betrayal that so profoundly touched billions of lives.

Poitras skillfully avoids casting Snowden as either her hero or the determining focus of her story, instead portraying him as a fascinating, calm, utterly sincere gatherer of unwelcome information whose scientific brain collates and analyzes data with an odd combination of cool distance and deep-seated paranoia (sometimes manifested by his hiding under a blanket, which he ironically dubs his "mantle of power," while accessing sensitive data). Poitras affords him a surprising amount of privacy within the frame, showing him quietly typing away on his computer or staring out the window at the city of Hong Kong.

Like Poitras herself, Snowden fully accepts the possible repercussions of his actions on his personal well-being, even while actively seeking to avoid them. His biggest moments of vulnerability concern Lindsay Mills, the longtime girlfriend he left behind in Hawaii and whom he kept uninformed in an attempt to protect her. A later cozy scene of kitchen domesticity, fleetingly glimpsed through a back window, attests to their successful reunion in Russia.

Poitras contrasts the gaudy, graphics-heavy nature of the news exploding on the hotel-room TV screen with her own weighty establishing shots of the locales through which she and her band of co-conspirators pass as they evaluate and disseminate Snowden's evidence (Poitras herself resides in Berlin, while Greenwald and his three dogs happily dwell in Rio de Janeiro). The courtrooms, newspaper offices and foreign governmental committee rooms where the disclosures are discussed and analyzed take on a physical rootedness very different from the shadowy, abstractions of espionage (evoked by Poitras' strong use of white-on-black title cards and a mysteriously repeated shot of white lights strung like Morse code against the blackness of the night, only later recognized as the tunnel through which the director drove to arrive at her initial assignation with Snowden).

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"Citizenfour" a real-time portrait of Edward Snowden plotting to reveal NSA spying

Several years ago, in a nod to Linux creator Linus Torvalds, software developer Eric S. Raymond coined a phrase that he called Linus's Law:

"Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."

So goes the standard argument in favor of open source that more "eyeballs" make for better quality control and better security. It has become the rallying cry for open-source enthusiasts, particularly in the aftermath of Edward Snowden's revelations last year about NSA spying and government infiltration of technology. Reports surfaced that Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and other tech heavies were compromised. According to the open-source narrative, the Snowden documents proved that commercial software couldn't be trusted.

"There have long been rumors in the networking community about possible backdoors in major networking vendors' firmware and network stacks," Nicholas Merrill, executive director of The Calyx Institute, told Enterprise Networking Planet in an interview last year. "I would suggestthat people strongly consider open-source solutions since their source code is open for peer review and auditing."

Government snoops, however, apparently have no qualms about attempting to hide vulnerabilities in plain sight. For instance, during a keynote panel discussion at this year's LinuxCon, Linus Torvalds was asked if the federal government had ever asked him to insert a backdoor into the Linux kernel. Torvalds verbally told the audience "No" while nodding his head yes.

Additionally, among the Snowden leaks was confirmation that the NSA had inserted a self-serving vulnerability into a pseudorandom number generator and then worked to get it adopted as an international standard.

Certainly, although it has been confirmed that the US government pressures and works with commercial vendors to insert backdoors into their software, so too apparently do they participate in open-source efforts. After all, if open-source development is "open" to everyone, it's just as open to the government and others who wish to weaken software security.

Other factors demonstrate that Linus's Law is just plain false. In his 2003 book Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, Robert L. Glass levies numerous criticisms against the "law," writing that, according to research, the law of diminishing returns is at work when it comes to code review. Specifically, that having more than two to four code reviewers is not particularly useful.

"[W]e shouldn't think that a Mongolian horde of debuggers, no matter how well motivated they are, will produce an error-free software product," writes Glass, "any more than any of our other error removal approaches will."

Glass goes on to point out that no scientific evidence exists to show that open source is safer, more reliable, or less buggy. He also observes that the bugs found by the many "eyeballs" may not be the most serious. Other commentators have explicitly posited that security bugs are among the least likely to be found in open-source software because security review is more boring and more difficult than tending to features.

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Opinion: TrueCrypt, the NSA, and the Myth of Open-Source Security

PRINCETON With little more than two months before he closes the book on a 16-year Congressional career, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) discussed the challenges in store when it comes to preserving civil liberties in the 21st century.

Before a crowd of nearly 100 ACLU members, Holt and ACLU of New Jersey Executive Director Udi Ofer traced a history of the revocation of civil liberties throughout Holts time in the House.

Holt, who announced earlier this year that he wouldnt seek a ninth term in Congress, didnt pull any punches, openly criticizing his affirmative votes on the Patriot Act in 2001 -- hands down the worst vote Ive cast so far in Congress, he said -- and the Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2003 a close second.

We shouldnt sacrifice our liberties for the sake of security. Thats a false choice, Holt said. Its not the loss of privacy that is so upsetting. It is that the government would treat all of us as suspects first and citizens second.

Since those votes, Holt has remained critical of the use of surveillance at the federal level, frequently calling the situation a surveillance state during Mondays discussion.

He detailed his own experience with the NSA when, as chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, NSA leaders unquestionably and unequivocally lied to him when he asked about surveillance.

There is some reason for secrecy but theres no justification for systematically and deliberately lying to people charged with the oversight, said Holt, a Hopewell Township resident.

And while he acknowledged that Edward Snowden unquestionably broke a significant law by leaking evidence of the NSAs domestic surveillance, he said Snowden should have leniency in any prosecution and probably should be pardoned."

He has done a great service. The more I hear him interviewed, theres a little bit of self-righteousness there, but this was done for patriotic reasons, Holt said. He did not do this casually or stupidly. It was quite thoughtful."

Turning to current events, Holt criticized Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomos policy of mandatory quarantines for medical workers returning from trips to treat Ebola patients in West Africa.

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U.S. Rep. Holt discusses NSA spying, Ebola quarantine at ACLU forum in Princeton

Clinton Praises Udall On NSA Spying

By: Lawrence Lines

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Clinton Praises Udall On NSA Spying - Video

Hillary Clinton, one of the Democratic Partys leading national security hawks, lauded Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado on Tuesday for his work on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance reform.

Campaigning with Udall today, the former secretary of state and likely 2016 presidential contender applauded the senator forleading the Senate in asking the hard questions about intelligence and the tradeoff between liberty and security, The Hill reports.

That was an important and challenging task that he took on, Clinton said.

Since security contractor Edward Snowden leaked files last year exposing the NSAs massive domestic surveillance program, Udall has been among the Senates most vocal champions of surveillance reform. Teaming up with fellow Sens. Ron Wyden and Ron Paul on the issue, Udall has backed privacy safeguards like ending bulk collection of Americans personal data and requiring agencies to obtain a warrant before reading citizens emails. As he seeks to fend off a formidable challenge from GOP Rep. Cory Gardner, Udall has highlighted his fierce criticism of NSA spying as an example of his willingness to break ranks with President Barack Obama.

Clinton has previously signaled some support for NSA reform, alluding this summer to changes that needed to be made in order to secure that privacy, that constitutional right to privacy that Americans are due, hastening to add that she views it as a really difficult balancing act.

As a U.S. senator from New York in 2001, Clinton joined 97 other senators in voting for the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which significantly expanded the scope of anti-terrorism surveillance and drew ire from civil libertarians. But when the Bush administrations warrantless eavesdropping program came to light, Clinton expressed privacy concerns.

Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists. I think thats our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way, Clinton said in January 2006.

While Clinton did not throw her support behind any specific NSA reform proposals on Tuesday, her remarks suggest that shell make a concerted effort to woo civil liberties advocates ahead of 2016.

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Hillary Clinton makes big statement on NSA spying - Salon.com

Hillary Clinton, one of the Democratic Partys leading national security hawks, lauded Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado on Tuesday for his work on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance reform.

Campaigning with Udall today, the former secretary of state and likely 2016 presidential contender applauded the senator forleading the Senate in asking the hard questions about intelligence and the tradeoff between liberty and security, The Hill reports.

That was an important and challenging task that he took on, Clinton said.

Since security contractor Edward Snowden leaked files last year exposing the NSAs massive domestic surveillance program, Udall has been among the Senates most vocal champions of surveillance reform. Teaming up with fellow Sens. Ron Wyden and Ron Paul on the issue, Udall has backed privacy safeguards like ending bulk collection of Americans personal data and requiring agencies to obtain a warrant before reading citizens emails. As he seeks to fend off a formidable challenge from GOP Rep. Cory Gardner, Udall has highlighted his fierce criticism of NSA spying as an example of his willingness to break ranks with President Barack Obama.

Clinton has previously signaled some support for NSA reform, alluding this summer to changes that needed to be made in order to secure that privacy, that constitutional right to privacy that Americans are due, hastening to add that she views it as a really difficult balancing act.

As a U.S. senator from New York in 2001, Clinton joined 97 other senators in voting for the U.S.A. Patriot Act, which significantly expanded the scope of anti-terrorism surveillance and drew ire from civil libertarians. But when the Bush administrations warrantless eavesdropping program came to light, Clinton expressed privacy concerns.

Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists. I think thats our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way, Clinton said in January 2006.

While Clinton did not throw her support behind any specific NSA reform proposals on Tuesday, her remarks suggest that shell make a concerted effort to woo civil liberties advocates ahead of 2016.

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Hillary Clinton makes big statement on NSA spying

NSA Spying: "I #39;ve Got A Feeling Somebody #39;s Watching Me!"
This is a rip on the warantless wiretapping i.e. mass 4th-Amendment violation that #39;s going on all over the USA. If you enjoy the video, please comment and sh...

By: Proactive Truthseeker

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NSA Spying: "I've Got A Feeling Somebody's Watching Me!" - Video