08/10/13
Barack Obama held one of his first press conference since the whole NSA spying thing blew up. As in the past, he says he welcomes debate, though he hasn't really taken any steps towards it, and believes more transparency is needed. But he still thinks Edward Snowden is not a patriot.
Obama argued that those fighting for greater transparency were patriots, but Snowden wasn't one of them.
What's more, the president is sure that this entire discussion about the NSA abuses would have happened without Snowden, this despite the five years during which his administration did everything in its power to block any discussion.
Now, Obama is proposing several measures that he believes will help with transparency. For one, he wants a reform of the Patriot Act, specifically the section that enables the broad NSA spying.
Whether this reform will in any way change NSA's actions remains to be seen, Obama was vague on the details. So far though, the spy agency has used interpretations of all the laws governing it that go far beyond what the Congress intended.
Along with the reform, Obama is also proposing that, in some cases, NSA requests before the secret FISA court be argued against by a public advocate.
Now, there is no one opposing the NSA's requests, judges either approve or deny them based on the NSA's arguments. To date, only 0.03 percent of requests have been denied.
If done right, this could make it harder for the NSA to get the broad warrants it gets now, though it all depends on the implementation.
A third measure proposed by Obama is a website which would list what the NSA can and can't collect from Americans and foreigners alike.
Considering the many times the NSA and the administration have lied about spy programs, including Obama just a couple of days ago, when he said no Americans are being spied upon, there's little reason to believe that this website will be anything more than a joke.
Finally, Obama is proposing the creation of an independent agency which would review the US intelligence apparatus and report on it. All of this seems too little too late and that's assuming that any of it actually gets implemented, but it's probably the best we can hope for from the US government at this point.
source: softpedia
Obama argued that those fighting for greater transparency were patriots, but Snowden wasn't one of them.
What's more, the president is sure that this entire discussion about the NSA abuses would have happened without Snowden, this despite the five years during which his administration did everything in its power to block any discussion.
Now, Obama is proposing several measures that he believes will help with transparency. For one, he wants a reform of the Patriot Act, specifically the section that enables the broad NSA spying.
Whether this reform will in any way change NSA's actions remains to be seen, Obama was vague on the details. So far though, the spy agency has used interpretations of all the laws governing it that go far beyond what the Congress intended.
Along with the reform, Obama is also proposing that, in some cases, NSA requests before the secret FISA court be argued against by a public advocate.
Now, there is no one opposing the NSA's requests, judges either approve or deny them based on the NSA's arguments. To date, only 0.03 percent of requests have been denied.
If done right, this could make it harder for the NSA to get the broad warrants it gets now, though it all depends on the implementation.
A third measure proposed by Obama is a website which would list what the NSA can and can't collect from Americans and foreigners alike.
Considering the many times the NSA and the administration have lied about spy programs, including Obama just a couple of days ago, when he said no Americans are being spied upon, there's little reason to believe that this website will be anything more than a joke.
Finally, Obama is proposing the creation of an independent agency which would review the US intelligence apparatus and report on it. All of this seems too little too late and that's assuming that any of it actually gets implemented, but it's probably the best we can hope for from the US government at this point.
source: softpedia
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