Category Archives: Freedom

The Plight of NGO Workers in Egypt
Staff from Freedom House #39;s Egypt and Jordan offices discuss the impact of the NGO trial on their lives.

By: Freedom House

Read the rest here:
The Plight of NGO Workers in Egypt - Video

[264] NSA Tapping the World, Unmasking #39;Anonymous #39; and the Culture of Online Freedom Fighting
Abby Martin Breaks the Set on NSA Long Distance Eavesdropping, Unmasking Anonymous, Impunity for Genocide, Making Time to Reflect LIKE Breaking the Set @ h...

By: breakingtheset

More:
[264] NSA Tapping the World, Unmasking 'Anonymous' and the Culture of Online Freedom Fighting - Video

Afghanistan Then and Now- Operation Enduring Freedom
Lance Cpl. Cavan Huckabay compares and contrasts how Afghanistan has changed since his first deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

By: AussieNews1

Original post:
Afghanistan Then and Now- Operation Enduring Freedom - Video

Earlier this month, Sen. Patrick Leahy began circulating a piece of legislation called The USA FREEDOM Act. We knew what the legislation would do, but we didnt know any of the specifics until today.

The Hill reports that Sen. Leahy has finally introduced The USA FREEDOM Act, or the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection, and Online Monitoring Act, into the Senate this afternoon. The legislation, which enjoys 16 co-sponsors in the Senate, clocks in at 118 pages and seeks to reform both the NSA and the FISA court. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, otherwise known as the congressman who wrote the original Patriot Act, has also introduced sister legislation in the House with more than 70 co-sponsors.

The government surveillance programs conducted under the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act are far broader than the American people previously understood. It is time for serious and meaningful reforms so we can restore confidence in our intelligence community, Leahy said. Modest transparency and oversight provisions are not enough. We need real reform, which is why I join today with Congressman Sensenbrenner, and bipartisan coalitions in both the Senate and House, to introduce the USA FREEDOM Act.

So, what exactly does the USA FREEDOM Act do? First and foremost, it ends the bulk collection of Americans phone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Currently, the NSA uses an interpretation of Section 215 handed down by the FISA court that allows it to indiscriminately collect Americans phone records.

Section 215 is not the only thing that needs reform and Leahy knows it. His legislation would also reform Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act a law that allows the NSA to collect Americans Internet communications without a warrant. Under the USA FREEDOM Act, there will be stricter limits placed on the kind of online communications that can be collected, and it will also require the NSA to obtain a court order prior to conducting back door searches looking for the communications of U.S. persons in databases collected without a warrant under Section 702.

The legislation would also improve oversight and transparency by reforming two key components of the intelligence community the FISA court and data request reporting. For the former, the legislation would appoint a public privacy advocate that would argue in favor of pro-privacy in front of the FISA court. As for the latter, the legislation would permit companies to publish the number of data requests they receive from the federal government. It would also require the government to report these numbers itself.

Finally, the USA FREEDOM Act would implement new sunset dates for both the FISA Amendments Act and National Security Letters to bring their expiration in line with the 2015 sunset date for Section 215. The reasoning is that Leahy believes having all three sunset in the same year will force Congress and the executive branch to address every part of the NSA and FISA in one go instead of having years between them.

Following 9/11, the USA PATRIOT Act passed the judiciary committees with overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill has helped keep Americans safe by ensuring information is shared among those responsible for defending our country and by enhancing the tools the intelligence community needs to identify and track terrorists, Sensenbrenner said. But somewhere along the way, the balance between security and privacy was lost. Its now time for the judiciary committees to again come together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the law is properly interpreted, past abuses are not repeated and American liberties are protected. Washington must regain Americans trust in their government. The USA FREEDOM Act is an essential first step. I would like to thank Congressmen Conyers and Amash, Congresswoman Lofgren, Chairman Issa and others for working with us to draft this important legislation and encourage all my colleagues to support it.

Now, before you go off and petition your local lawmakers to pass this law, you might want to check out Sen. Patrick Leahys statement on his bill. Its an excellently written piece on how he feels about the NSA and what he hopes the legislation will accomplish.

[Image: Patrick Leahy]

See the original post:
Sen. Patrick Leahy Officially Introduces The USA FREEDOM Act In The Senate

The Sierra Leone parliaments passage of a freedom of information law is a major step to ensure greater government transparency, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Sierra Leones Freedom of Information Coalition said today. The new legislation, enacted today, is crucial for effective, transparent, and accountable governance.

The Right to Access Information Act establishes a right to access government information and requires all parts of government to adopt and widely disseminate a plan for making records publicly available. The legislation also imposes a penalty for willful obstruction of its provisions.

The law was first proposed in 2003 but has languished in Sierra Leones parliament since 2010. President Ernest Bai Koroma must now sign the act for it to enter into force.

One of the most important things in Sierra Leone right now is for everyone to have the right to information, said Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, executive director of the Society of Democratic Initiatives, which coordinated the Freedom of Information Coalitions campaign for the bills passage.

Sierra Leoneans cant hold elected officials to account without access to basic information about what the government is doing.

Sierra Leone is recovering and rebuilding from a long and brutal armed conflict that ended in 2002. With foreign investors returning to the resource-rich country, the government is leasing land for commercialized agriculture and mining. Some affected residents who have sought more information or challenged these deals have faced reprisal ranging from harassment to arrest.

Freedom of information is recognized as an essential element of the right to freedom of expression in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and other international instruments. By passing this law, Sierra Leones government is significantly advancing its commitment to international and regional human rights obligations.

Donors to Sierra Leone, as well as other multinational bodies, have called on the government to increase transparency and adopt other good governance and rule of law measures. Passage of the law would enable Sierra Leone to meet the minimum eligibility requirements to join the international Open Government Partnership, which meets in London from 31 October to 1 November.

Sierra Leone has applied to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which works to improve openness and accountability about how revenues from natural resources get managed. But its bid was suspended in February, pending further information, because of insufficient documentation of mining revenue and company payments.

Transparency of government information in Sierra Leone has been hindered by the countrys criminal libel law, which the authorities invoke against journalists, civil society members, and others who criticize the government. On 25 October, two journalists from a privately owned newspaper, the Independent Observer, were arrested, charged with sedition and other offenses, jailed, and denied bail for criticizing President Koroma.

Excerpt from:
Sierra Leone: New law promotes transparency

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is one of the sponsors of a bill that would end the NSA's bulk collection of Americans' communications records.

Patriot Act author Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy , D-Vt., introduced the USA Freedom Act on Tuesday with the help of some co-sponsors previously opposed to the bill's goal of ending the bulk data collection by the National Security Agency.

[READ:Did the White House Approve Surveillance on Merkel?]

The Freedom Act would end the NSA's bulk collection of Americans' communications records by amending Section 215 of the Patriot Act, making numerous amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and creating a privacy advocate to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, who could argue civil liberties concerns and appeal court decisions. The full text of the bill is available online.

Sensenbrenner was the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred, and was one of the original authors of the Patriot Act. In a statement on Monday introducing the Freedom Act, Sensenbrenner said the surveillance powers granted to intelligence agencies in the Patriot Act have kept Americans safe "but somewhere along the way, the balance between security and privacy was lost."

"It's now time for the judiciary committees to again come together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the law is properly interpreted, past abuses are not repeated and American liberties are protected," Sensenbrenner said. "Washington must regain Americans' trust in their government."

Since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden began disclosing government phone and email surveillance practices in June, members of congress have introduced a stack of proposals calling for increased transparency and oversight of the agency. In a statement on Monday Leahy said "modest transparency and oversight provisions are not enough."

[BROWSE: Editorial Cartoons on the NSA]

"The government surveillance programs conducted under the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act are far broader than the American people previously understood," Leahy said. "It is time for serious and meaningful reforms so we can restore confidence in our intelligence community,"

The highly anticipated bill to end the NSA's dragnet collection of phone records, and increase oversight, transparency, and accountability on domestic surveillance, is poised to set off another showdown in Congress between privacy rights and the national security needs of data surveillance. The House defeated by 12 votes a proposed amendment to the defense appropriations bill in July that would have restricted the NSA's collection of phone records and metadata, known as the Amash amendment because it was introduced by Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich.

Link:
Freedom Act to End NSA Data Collection Introduced

"FREEDOM" by ARJUN Live at TIPA - song for TIBET
"Freedom" live by the band ARJUN from Delhi at the Freedom Concert on 22nd October 2013 at TIPA, Mc Leod Ganj, Dharamsala, India. This song is dedicated to T...

By: Dennis Barbion

See the rest here:
"FREEDOM" by ARJUN Live at TIPA - song for TIBET - Video

1993 Ernst Zuendel Another Voice of Freedom 04 Freedom of Speech ENG
"When the National Socialists and their friends cry or whisper that this [the war] is brought about by Jews, they are perfectly right." - The Jewish magazine...

By: Tors Hammer

Read more:
1993 Ernst Zuendel Another Voice of Freedom 04 Freedom of Speech ENG - Video

Freedom Pt. 1
In this video, Paul Chek encourages you to not get caught up in the intellectual aspects of his message, but to see the intellectual expression as a finger, ...

By: Paul Chek

Visit link:
Freedom Pt. 1 - Video

Demonstrators in Morocco rally in support of press freedom
For more on this and other stories please visit http://www.enca.com October 24 - Demonstrators in Morocco have rallied in support of press freedom. They accu...

By: eNCAnews

Go here to see the original:
Demonstrators in Morocco rally in support of press freedom - Video