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Congress passes bill allowing warrantless forfeiture of private communications

MannDude

Just a dude
vpsBoard Founder
Moderator
Congress has quietly passed an Intelligence Authorization Bill that includes warrantless forfeiture of private communications to local law enforcement. Representative Justin Amash unsuccessfully attempted a late bid to oppose the bill, which passed 325-100. According to Amash, the bill "grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American." According to the article, a provision in the bill allows “the acquisition, retention, and dissemination” of Americans’ communications without a court order or subpoena. That type of collection is currently allowed under an executive order that dates back to former President Reagan, but the new stamp of approval from Congress was troubling, Amash said. Limits on the government’s ability to retain information in the provision did not satisfy the Michigan Republican."
http://yro-beta.slashdot.org/story/14/12/11/2128208/congress-passes-bill-allowing-warrantless-forfeiture-of-private-communications

http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20141208/FY%202015%20IAA.PDF
 
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MannDude

Just a dude
vpsBoard Founder
Moderator
If this isn't a clear sign that you need to get the hell out of the USA, then I don't know what is.
I'm prepared to pool together everyone's resources to purchase an island in Tonga where the weather is moderate year round and giant meshnet can be created... :p
 

rds100

New Member
Verified Provider
So what's the change? They did this in the past, they will keep doing it in the future?
 

texteditor

Premium Buffalo-based Hosting
I'm prepared to pool together everyone's resources to purchase an island in Tonga where the weather is moderate year round and giant meshnet can be created... :p
You know we'd get about ~6 months out of it before we'd all murder each other

(seriously though, every 'micronation' project ends up with people giving themselves titles likes Lords and Ladies or Princes and then blackmailing/attacking each other in power struggles over some 8-acre tract of land, sovereign micronations are hilarious)
 

KuJoe

Well-Known Member
Verified Provider
not my circus - not my monkeys 

not my problem - just the country's 

so what if the politicians got bump keys 

on all these other companies? 

citizens who obey the law 

don't get spied on - not at all 

so my fears irrational 

all hail corporate national 

 

who cares what you buy when you're online shopping? 

what about the porn that you're watching? 

what about the girls that you're stalking 

behind your girlfriends back - is that shocking? 

cell phone tracks the places you're walking 

in all that fly ass gear that you're rocking 

no one will possibly use that data 

against you sometime later 
introducingneals.com
 
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RTGHM

New Member
I'm prepared to pool together everyone's resources to purchase an island in Tonga where the weather is moderate year round and giant meshnet can be created... :p
Can we build a triangle-island?  A indistructable sky castle?

Hell yeah, the police have no rights when we're an indistructable sky castle!
 

drmike

100% Tier-1 Gogent
F-THE-POLICE----STATE.

I read the PDF above, 12~ hours ago.

The language is in there.  But, it's atypical legalese bullshit dance as all of it seems to be these days.  We should really start hanging lawyers in this country.

The language applies to - intent wise - communications between NON US citizens:

"all parties in communication are REASONABLY BELIEVED to be non United-States persons"

It also has lengthy retention of data for any communications that are ciphered or believed to be somehow encoded or intention to conceal something.

I don't want to say the Republicon politico whistleblowing on this is full of cow pucky, but he slightly is on this one as the language and intent is not EXPRESSLY US CITIZENS.  However, he's not stupid and I am only semi-stupid, cause what they will fit under such legislation and where they cast their net most surely will ensnare US Citizens who are interacting with US Citizens.  It's a bad "first-step" towards making that the accepted and "legal" norm.

PS: There is more bad stuff in that bill...  I'll probably spend some tea time with the PDF later.
 
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stim

New Member
If this isn't a clear sign that you need to get the hell out of the USA, then I don't know what is.
Don't be fooled - this is happening in Europe too. You should probably avoid the UK completely. 

Look at the torture report - any colluding country mentioned therein will be subject to arbitrary data collection by the Yanks. Otherwise, it's the Russians and Chinese. Nothing is safe.

They don't give two shits about the rights of non-Americans. According to Obama we are the enemy. At the same time he was wiping his arse with the US constitution.

You want to protect your data? Take it off-line.  
 
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RTGHM

New Member
Don't be fooled - this is happening in Europe too. You should probably avoid the UK completely. 

Look at the torture report - any colluding country mentioned therein will be subject to arbitrary data collection by the Yanks. Otherwise, it's the Russians and Chinese. Nothing is safe.

They don't give two shits about the rights of non-Americans. According to Obama we are the enemy. At the same time he was wiping his arse with the US constitution.

You want to protect your data? Take it off-line.  
Yes, exactly. Let's build a indestructible sky castle with peet-to-peer (p2p) internet connection that allows no connections from anything but the p2p network, but for accessing files you have to have special clearence.
 

tonyg

New Member
This all started in the months after 9/11 when the Patriot Act was passed.

People willing to give up their rights since "they had nothing to hide".
 

stim

New Member
Yes, exactly. Let's build a indestructible sky castle with peet-to-peer (p2p) internet connection that allows no connections from anything but the p2p network, but for accessing files you have to have special clearence.
Well you may sneer, but when a client insists on using hardcopy - which is an increasing phenomenon - it's no fun for me driving 200km and back to collect it.

You see, there are some companies who now realise that this had nothing to do with 'terrorism', and everything to do with economics and control. There is a palpable reluctance to expose their expensive confidential data to the real risk of being stolen. Be it by the Yanks, Chinese or anyone else.

regin came from UK GCHQ.  A nasty piece of work from a nasty bunch of people.
 
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DomainBop

Dormant VPSB Pathogen
You see, there are some companies who now realise that this had nothing to do with 'terrorism', and everything to do with economics and control.
That's how I've always regarded the US (and NATO) war on terrorism. 

On the international front, I see it as an attempt to remain at the top of the economic perch and prevent, or delay, the inevitable 'rise of the BRICS'.  If you look at most economic forecasts for 2040 the top 4 world economies are predicted to be 1. China 2. India 3. USA 4. Brazil (and on a GDP basis a report by Citibank predicts the US/Canada/Western Europe share of world GDP will fall from 41% to 18% by 2050) which will mean the US and the west will no longer be able to dictate policy to the rest of the world like they have done for the past few hundred years.  The "war on terror" has given them an excuse to try to forcibly prevent the inevitable changing of the economic guard by grabbing as much control over resources and other economies as they can now.

On the domestic front I've always seen the "war on terror"'s use of  fear mongering, increased surveillance, and militarization as an attempt to keep the population in control and prevent what has historically happened when economic inequality rise to extreme levels: Marie Antoinette loses her head.

The documents Snowden released last year also support the idea that the primary purpose of the increased surveillance is economic not fighting terrorism as is claimed.
 
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TruvisT

Server Management Specialist
Verified Provider
I'm prepared to pool together everyone's resources to purchase an island in Tonga where the weather is moderate year round and giant meshnet can be created... :p
Me and some friends looked at ideas like that and made plans.

You want to protect your data? Take it off-line.  
Pretty much all our smaller local businesses are like this and are anti-cloud now due to all the hacks and such.
 

k0nsl

Bad Goy
The next one will be no different. They have not tended to American interests, or the interests of the American people, for a very, very, very long time. Ahem, I could say who's interests they rather tend to and whom they dump incredible amounts of money on, but I rather not. Everybody already knows it.  So it goes, as Vonnegut would have put it.

According to Obama we are the enemy.
 
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