H.R.4681: The Intelligence Authorization Act For FY2015

[Omon_Ra]

Section 309 is the scary bit of this Bill, which is headed to President Obama's desk.

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/4681/text

 

SEC. 309. PROCEDURES FOR THE RETENTION OF INCIDENTALLY ACQUIRED
COMMUNICATIONS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Covered communication.--The term ``covered communication''
means any nonpublic telephone or electronic communication acquired
without the consent of a person who is a party to the
communication, including communications in electronic storage.
(2) Head of an element of the intelligence community.--The term
``head of an element of the intelligence community'' means, as
appropriate--
(A) the head of an element of the intelligence community;
or
( the head of the department or agency containing such
element.
(3) United states person.--The term ``United States person''
has the meaning given that term in section 101 of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801).
(B ) Procedures for Covered Communications.--
(1) Requirement to adopt.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act each head of an element of the
intelligence community shall adopt procedures approved by the
Attorney General for such element that ensure compliance with the
requirements of paragraph (3).
(2) Coordination and approval.--The procedures required by
paragraph (1) shall be--
(A) prepared in coordination with the Director of National
Intelligence; and
(B ) approved by the Attorney General prior to issuance.
(3) Procedures.--
(A) Application.--The procedures required by paragraph (1)
shall apply to any intelligence collection activity not
otherwise authorized by court order (including an order or
certification issued by a court established under subsection
(a) or (b ) of section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803)), subpoena, or
similar legal process that is reasonably anticipated to result
in the acquisition of a covered communication to or from a
United States person and shall permit the acquisition,
retention, and dissemination of covered communications subject
to the limitation in subparagraph (B ).
(B ) Limitation on retention.--A covered communication shall
not be retained in excess of 5 years, unless--
(i) the communication has been affirmatively
determined, in whole or in part, to constitute foreign
intelligence or counterintelligence or is necessary to
understand or assess foreign intelligence or
counterintelligence;
(ii) the communication is reasonably believed to
constitute evidence of a crime and is retained by a law
enforcement agency;
(iii) the communication is enciphered or reasonably
believed to have a secret meaning;
(iv) all parties to the communication are reasonably
believed to be non-United States persons;
(v) retention is necessary to protect against an
imminent threat to human life, in which case both the
nature of the threat and the information to be retained
shall be reported to the congressional intelligence
committees not later than 30 days after the date such
retention is extended under this clause;
(vi) retention is necessary for technical assurance or
compliance purposes, including a court order or discovery
obligation, in which case access to information retained
for technical assurance or compliance purposes shall be
reported to the congressional intelligence committees on an
annual basis; or
(vii) retention for a period in excess of 5 years is
approved by the head of the element of the intelligence
community responsible for such retention, based on a
determination that retention is necessary to protect the
national security of the United States, in which case the
head of such element shall provide to the congressional
intelligence committees a written certification
describing--

(I) the reasons extended retention is necessary to
protect the national security of the United States;
(II) the duration for which the head of the element
is authorizing retention;
(III) the particular information to be retained;
and
(IV) the measures the element of the intelligence
community is taking to protect the privacy interests of
United States persons or persons located inside the
United States.

This is not good... The 'limitations' are only for retaining information OVER 5 years; anything and everything can, and will be, collected, analyzed, cataloged and distributed. There's not much else to say; other than sign this petition to try and get President Obama to veto the bill. How it made it through Congress this far without anyone noticing is almost impressive considering how inept Congress is at anything...

 

There is a petition on the White House site, but it needs 100,000 signatures to be addressed. Currently, there's just over 9,000 signatures.. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/protect-our-privacy-and-please-veto-hr-4681-aka-intelligence-authorization-act-fiscal-year-2015/lln5hN5c

[Briggsy]

so basically, this bill would require intelligence agencies to destroy these collected communications after 5 years unless the material still posed a threat to the US national security. If I'm not mistaken, they already collect/horde this data for an indefinite time period, but the bill would set a cut off date as a means of garbage collection. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure someone would find a way to bend the law if it were in place, but I fail to see how this bill is bad, when the collection of private communications already happens and is currently never deleted.

 

The term ``covered communication''

means any nonpublic telephone or electronic communication acquired

without the consent of a person who is a party to the

communication, including communications in electronic storage.

 

[Omon_Ra]

so basically, this bill would require intelligence agencies to destroy these collected communications after 5 years unless the material still posed a threat to the US national security. If I'm not mistaken, they already collect/horde this data for an indefinite time period, but the bill would set a cut off date as a means of garbage collection. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure someone would find a way to bend the law if it were in place, but I fail to see how this bill is bad, when the collection of private communications already happens and is currently never deleted.

 

It is the first time that it has been put into writing and not vaguely discussed by the intelligence community. This part is a direct violation of the 4th Amendment (The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.)

 

 

The procedures required by paragraph (1)

shall apply to any intelligence collection activity not

otherwise authorized by court order (including an order or

certification issued by a court established under subsection

(a) or (b ) of section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence

Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803)), subpoena, or

similar legal process that is reasonably anticipated to result

in the acquisition of a covered communication to or from a

United States person and shall permit the acquisition,

retention, and dissemination of covered communications subject

to the limitation in subparagraph (B ).

 

I didn't go to law school, nor did I study Constitutional Law; but I would expect a Constitutional scholar like President Obama to realize this is a massive breech of the Constitution. This act is an attempt at legitimizing and laying the legal ground work for systemic data collection and justification of what is already occurring. If the government can circumvent the 4th Amendment, how long until the entire Constitution is worthless and our rights are dismantled (even further) under the name of 'national security?'

 

The two parts of the 'limitations' that I find most concerning are:

 

 

 

(iii) the communication is enciphered or reasonably

believed to have a secret meaning;

(iv) all parties to the communication are reasonably

believed to be non-United States persons;

 

Enciphered? So encrypted traffic? And if you're an international, they're keeping everything forever. From a logistical standpoint, how does the government expect to store and handle that much data; let alone analyze and catalog it?

 

 

*I saw this from your thread, but I'll just respond to it here

 

Well hopefully we can get this out there. If this passes its the first step down a long road. And I don't want to see the end

 

It already passed Congress...the next step is going to Obama's desk. There he can veto it (very doubtful) or sign it into law. There is a link to the White House petition in my OP. Somehow there's still only 9,000-some signatures on it. It needs 100,000 signatures to be addressed by the administration. 

[Trik'Stari]

This kinda shit is why it should be a law, that all legislation be written in plain English, and not be longer than one page.

 

Also, all language in a bill must be pertaining to the subject of that bill, no "slipping shit in" to financing bills and what not.