Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.
http://nytimes.com/2007/10/09/washington/09nsa.htmlAlso see:us: Wiretap laws face new static
A political debate about how to craft U.S. wiretapping laws has run aground on what might seem to be a minor point: should telecommunications companies that may have illegally opened their networks to intelligence agencies be immunized from lawsuits?A new proposal that House Democrats released this week called the Restore Act would impose some additional privacy safeguards and oversight on a shadowy court that meets behind closed doors to approve foreign surveillance requests. The current version of the Restore Act does not immunize either telephone or Internet providers.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6212777.htmlNSA’s Lucky Break: How the U.S. Became Switchboard to the World
A lucky coincidence of economics is responsible for routing much of the world’s internet and telephone traffic through switching points in the United States, where, under legislation introduced this week, the U.S. National Security Agency will be free to continue tapping it.Leading House Democrats introduced the so-called RESTORE Act Tuesday that allows the nation’s spies to maintain permanent eavesdropping stations inside United States switching centers. Telecom and internet experts interviewed by Wired News say the bill will give the NSA legal access to a torrent of foreign phone calls and internet traffic that travels through American soil on its way someplace else.But contrary to recent assertions by Bush administration officials, the amount of international traffic entering the United States is dropping, not increasing, experts say.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/10/domestic_taps
US Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers
Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency. Also includes stories from Wired and ZDNet.