Snowden effect: Reforms proposed

Nine months after the world learned his name, Edward Snowden and his leaks made their biggest splash yet in the capital Tuesday.

NSA reform efforts as a result of his surveillance revelations moved closer to reality as reports surfaced of a coalescing White House plan to end the governments bulk collection of American phone records. Neither that proposal nor a competing effort from the House Intelligence Committee have moved forward legislatively, and it will take time to see what, if anything, sticks. But their existence alone indicates that a major shift to the most controversial program revealed by Snowden could eventually be a reality.

This is a turning point, and it marks the beginning of a new effort to reclaim our rights from the NSA and restore the publics seat at the table of government, Snowden himself said in a statement.

A White House proposal, which remains under wraps, and a House bill would put in place a new system whereby phone companies hold records instead of the NSA. Neither proposal is perfect, privacy backers said, but the lack of new rules that require phone companies to retain data for longer than they do now is critical. Such language would have been panned by the telecommunications industry and civil liberties groups alike.

Its definitely a touchdown for privacy advocates, said Kevin Bankston, policy director at the New America Foundations Open Technology Institute. But were still in the first quarter of the game.

The developments, while unfinished, follow a roller coaster ride of reform efforts over the past year. The revelations united liberal Democrats and conservative libertarians in opposition to what they saw as broad government overreach and a violation of privacy but the drip-drip of stories about NSA activity was unable to carry a symbolic vote in the House last July to curb NSA funding.

But privacy groups now feel closer to real action. President Barack Obama committed to ending bulk phone data collection during a January speech, and his own intelligence review group declared the need for reform in December. This weeks proposal in which Obama said he is confident is formally due Friday and will suggest how to practically implement the changes.

We never had any real information about how these programs were used until now, ACLU legislative counsel Michelle Richardson said. Reform efforts were stymied by a lack of information. The Snowden leaks really dislodged those efforts.

That doesnt mean the dual proposals come without questions. Bankston said one big problem is that the administration plan treats only the symptoms of the intelligence overreach exposed by Snowden because it leaves open the possibility for other kinds of bulk data collection by the government.

And the House bill, backed by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), would allow intelligence agencies to get data without first getting the go-ahead from a court a separate concern raised by some, including the Center for Democracy & Technology.

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Snowden effect: Reforms proposed