Thank You Snowden! "Obama, Congress working on changes to NSA"

[Logical]

Does ANYONE still think this would of happened this quickly without Snowden?? Hell no! Snowden started a conversation that needed to be started. Of course the idiot GOP will fight any changes to the NSA (as well as many here) but at least we are discussing it. Without Snowden this would not be happening!

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders described similar proposals Tuesday for ending the National Security Agency's sweeping collection of bulk telephone records.

Obama told reporters in The Netherlands that his intelligence team gave him a "workable" option for NSA reform that he said would "eliminate " concerns about how the government keeps the records known as metadata.

At a news conference in Washington, the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said they worked out their own bipartisan compromise on a similar proposal intended to alleviate what they characterized as unfounded fears of excessive government surveillance.

The nearly simultaneous remarks demonstrated progress toward Obama's call in January for NSA changes in the aftermath of last year's classified leaks by former agency contractor Edward Snowden that revealed the magnitude of surveillance programs created in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

More at: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/25/politics/white-house-nsa/

[tridim]

1. He's so dreamy.

[sabrina 1]

7. Obama? n/t

[tridim]

11. No, I don't fantasize about Obama.

He is the President, not a fake Libertarian, criminal "hero". He also doesn't choose to live in Russia.

Do you have a real question?

[sabrina 1]

13. Snowden didn't choose to live in Russia either, the US Government forced him

to remain in Russia.

So do you think that the political affiliation of a Whistle Blower is more important than the crimes they reveal?

Eg, most Whistle Blowers during the Bush Administration were Republicans. But we cheered them on for revealing to the American people what their government, Bush/Cheney were doing to the US Constitution.

Were we wrong? Should we have said 'well, they are Republicans, they broke the law anyhow, so screw them, who cares about our Constitutional Rights'

I don't get why you are referring to the political affiliation, whatever it may be, of any Whistle Blower.

[LanternWaste]

29. You do however, project fictional feelings onto others...

"No, I don't fantasize about Obama..."

You do however, project fictional feelings onto others, e.g. ,'dreamy'.




(insert rationalization here to appear less child-like and petulant...)

[DCBob]

2. Thats like thanking some moron for crashing a truck through your front door..

just because it was stuck shut.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

3. Good analogy, except one is an infringement on Constitutional rights, and the other is...

a stupid example. Other than that, you nailed it!

[Logical]

4. Some people don't appreciate the shit he exposed. Mostly clueless people. n-t

[tridim]

12. He certainly exposed two shits...

Glenn Greenwald and himself.

Have fun in Russia, idiot.

[pipoman]

6. How is the NSA contractor business these days Bob?

[sabrina 1]

8. No, it's like when Bush was destroying our Constitutional rights and everyone on the Left was

outraged. Then a few Whistle Blowers came forward, all of them at that time, Republicans. The left CHEERED for them, applauded them as 'true patriots' who had set aside their party loyalty to expose policies that were damaging to their country.

There was a long string of Whistle Blowers during the Bush years. We applauded all of them. But it was THEY who were persecuted and had their lives destroyed while Congress figured out a way to protect the Perps. It was clever, they passed an amendment to the FISA Bill which made the Bush crimes LEGAL.

Imagine that, having enough power to commit crimes against the American people and have Congress work hard to protect you by passing laws making your crimes LEGAL.

So the Whistle Blowers were persecuted, prosecuted, lost their careers etc and the crooks got away with it.

But people actually DO care about this country. So once again another Whistle Blower came forward, revealing that the crimes never stopped. The Left once again, supported him. But there was a difference this time. SOME on the Left joined their Repub counterparts and condemned him.

However, the American people are increasingly angry at the violation of their Constitutional rights and unless this stops, there will be more Whistle Blowers, willing to risk everything for their country.

Next time, if there is a Repub in office, once again the Left will unanimously condemn the perps.

And then one day in the future perhaps, it won't matter anymore who is in office. The people will join forces, regardless of party affiliation and they will be a powerful force, united to defend and protect the US Constitution. THAT is the greatest fear of those powerful entities who are behind the destruction of this country's Constitution. That the people will unite against them

And it is beginning. They should worry.

[RC]

32. +1000

I wonder about the politics of those defending the NSA, or who they may be working for. Of those saying it is OK because the Chinese are dong it. Or because Google, Verizon, AT&T, etc are collecting that information, ON THEIR OWN CUSTOMERS, too, without any distinction between who is collecting or why. Or for how long the information is being kept.

I for one, want some balance between my freedom and my safety, with the slant towards my freedom, as per the 4th Amendment.

There are other proven ways to catch the bad guys, without everyone surrendering their privacy and freedom to a All Knowing Police State. And that is what people defending the NSA are advocating for - Loss of our freedom and privacy.

[FarCenter]

5. It should be straightforward to build a distributed query on multiple databases

How many years will the telecom companies be required by the legislation to maintain the call records?

[ljm2002]

27. The article that I read...

...said the telecomms would be required to keep the records as long as had been required by law prior to all of this, which was 18 months. Furthermore, the ability to do distributed queries is irrelevant, since the government now will be required to have a specific warrant in order to request records -- they will not be able to do the blanket collection they are doing now.

The new rules will make a material difference.

[FarCenter]

31. The warrant process can be automated -- it may only take an additional click by some court clerk.

[apples and oranges]

9. Should we also thank Adam Lanza for starting the gun control

conversation and attempts at legislation?

[flamingdem]

15. Ouch!

But a reasonable comparison

[Maedhros]

26. That is, quite frankly, the stupidest thing I have ever seen posted on DU.

And there have been some real headslappers.

Congratulations!

[ljm2002]

30. Wow...

...that is your idea of a reasonable comparison?

I believe you may be suffering from a condition known as "SGDS" (Snowden Greenwald Derangement Syndrome).

[polichick]

25. Has Snowden murdered people?

[ljm2002]

28. Of course!

Because Adam Lanza's entire motivation was to promote a discussion of gun laws.



BTW I cannot help but note how apt your username is, given this post.

[uponit7771]

10. BULLLLLLLLL FUCKIN SHIT!!! Obama spoke of reigning in Spying BEFORE BEFORE Snowden illegaly

... leaked documents to China

[LondonReign2]

14. Ah, yes

And what did he DO, exactly?

[polichick]

17. Talk is cheap.

[tridim]

20. And Snowjob's Russian state sponsored/filtered "talk" is worth how much exactly?

[polichick]

21. If Snowden's revelations were only talk you'd have a point.

[tridim]

23. It's 100% talk, filtered through Putin and Greenwald. Zero action. Zero credibility.

You might have had a point until you gave up on it in defense of your hero, Snowjob.

He's so dreamy.

[polichick]

24. You sound silly - and you're ignoring the documents.

[uponit7771]

34. that he stole? no one is ignoring those people are just not going to listen to the bullshit

... ass'd like that Snowden 1. Didn't have any other choice, he did and others were not charged for leaks under the Obama admin, 2. that he started this shit.... he didn't, Obama was already talking about it before snowGlen released docs


Ignoring facts is a little to conservative for me

[polichick]

35. Apparently you don't mind ignoring two big facts:

This activity has escalated during the Obama administration - and action could've been taken on Day One of his presidency to end it.

Thank-you Edward Snowden - someone had to alert the public!

[uponit7771]

36. How is your number one relevant to the OP? It's not... Obama spoke before SnowJob PERIOD

and your number 2 point is BS on its face seeing "day one" would assume Obama knew everything and only conservatives are pushing that bullshit

[polichick]

37. NSA activity is not relevant, and Obama put an end to the whole...

thing a long, long time ago. Okay - gotcha.

[polichick]

16. Of course it wouldn't have happened without Snowden. It didn't.

[siligut]

18. Exactly, "Snowden started a conversation that needed to be started."

The most disturbing denial was here on DU, not that is was the most egregious, just that it came from DUers.

“If you choose to not deal with an issue,
then you give up your right of control over the issue
and it will select the path of least resistance.”
― Susan Del Gatto

[ProSense]

19. How does this

impact his chances for immunity? LOL!

Carter: Snowden's leaks 'good for Americans to know'

Susan Page

NEW YORK -- Former president Jimmy Carter defended the disclosures by fugitive NSA contractor Edward Snowden on Monday, saying revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies were collecting meta-data of Americans' phone calls and e-mails have been "probably constructive in the long run."

<...>

Does he view Snowden, now granted asylum in Russia, as a hero or a traitor?

"There's no doubt that he broke the law and that he would be susceptible, in my opinion, to prosecution if he came back here under the law," he said. "But I think it's good for Americans to know the kinds of things that have been revealed by him and others -- and that is that since 9/11 we've gone too far in intrusion on the privacy that Americans ought to enjoy as a right of citizenship."

Carter cautioned that he didn't have information about whether some of the disclosures "may have hurt our security or individuals that work in security," adding, "If I knew that, then I may feel differently." And he said Snowden shouldn't be immune from prosecution for his actions.

"I think it's inevitable that he should be prosecuted and I think he would be prosecuted" if he returned to the United States, the former president said. "But I don't think he ought to be executed as a traitor or any kind of extreme punishment like that."

- more -

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/24/usa-today-capital-download-jimmy-carter-edward-snowden-probably-constructive/6822425/

[sabrina 1]

33. See the supreme court decision on this issue

Things are looking up for Whistle Blowers like Snowden now that even President Obama is taking his revelations seriously.

The more his Whistle Blowing effects POSITIVE change for the American people, long time victims of anti-Constitutional crimes against them initiated by the War Criminal Bush/Cheney administration, the more it is obvious that the rule of thumb regarding these issues will apply to him. That would mean that if the revelations are more in the Public Interest than the laws he had to violate in order to get the information to the American people, he will, like Ellsberg be completely exonerated and like Elllsberg, viewed as a hero, who knows, maybe even run for office one day.

[NCTraveler]

22. This is the first thread praising Snowden I have K&Red.

You have made him nothing he is or isn't. His actions are responsible for these positive moves. I do not trust that the changes are a coming.