UPDATE: The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives' changes to sections of the PATRIOT Act, Tuesday evening, known as the USA FREEDOM Act, after GOP Senate leaders failed to get any of the changes they wanted to the House bill. The final vote was 67-32. It now heads to President Obama's desk for… Continue reading The surveillance state is on hiatus, sort of, except not really
"Well the protester I think is a very powerful thing. It's basically a mechanism of democracy that, along with capitalism, scientific innovation, those things have built the modern world. And it's wonderful that the new tools have empowered that protestor so that state secrets, bad developments, are not hidden anymore." Microsoft founder, Bill Gates Spy… Continue reading Blurred lines between secrets and discretion trouble NSA
"While a person’s race may be important if it fits the description of a particular crime suspect, it is impermissible to subject all members of a racially defined group to heightened police enforcement because some members of that group are criminals... "The Equal Protection Clause does not permit the police to target a racially defined… Continue reading If ‘stop and frisk’ is wrong for the NYPD, it’s wrong for the NSA
UPDATE: The Amash-Conyers amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, that would have limited from whom the NSA could gather meta-data, failed in the House tonight, by only a dozen votes, 205-217. Despite the lobbying by the NSA, and opposition by the Republican House leadership, the measure still garnered enough bipartisan votes to make it… Continue reading UPDATE: NSA amendment limiting surveillance fails in House vote
"The fact is, you should reject any notion that President Obama's action have anything to do with what President Bush was doing... "We protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. That's our oath of office, so we have that responsibility." - House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, to the Netroots Nation conference, Saturday, June… Continue reading Pelosi’s less than stellar moment at Netroots Nation
