Obama to unveil plan to end NSA bulk data collection

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/03/25/obama-to-unveil-plan-to-end-nsa-bulk-data-collection/

 

That'll be the day - Buddy Holly

 

It will never happen. They will create a new/same old program for doing it in no time. It would cost the phone companies Billions of dollars to store the information as proposed as one possible solution. The delay obtaining a court order to obtain data will not be acceptable to them. They will view it as too risky when defending against terrorism. I honestly did not have a problem with them storing the data, but I would have a problem with them misusing it.

 

If he's actually sincere about it (for now I will refrain from commenting further on that subject), then my biggest concern is who will enforce the new policies, and how. When powerful government officials violate the law, who holds them accountable? Who keeps them from tweaking the law to avoid repercussions?

Not a new problem at all, but that doesn't make it less worrying.

The US' democracy was always imperfect, but I felt for a while like we'd been making slow progress. Abolition, women's suffrage, the civil rights movement - slow but getting somewhere. But between the surveillance and... other things that have been going on lately, I feel like we're sliding back a bit right now.

 

I completely agree with everything you just posted. I wonder what they will call their new surveillance project.

 

Obama is speaking to his base who believe that he is a victim of these revelations. However, he is briefed everyday by the NSA and he knows exactly where the info comes from. By denouncing the reach of the NSA he is separating himself from it politically. By suggesting that Telcos keep the data, he separates himself from the evil doers in big business. The implementation of his suggestion is not his job, therefore he can not be associated with it when it fails. It will be spun as the failure of others. The base will lap this up and the talking heads will exonerate him on CNN and MSNBC. It's a game with willing participants on both sides. A new covert agency may relieve the NSA of the collection of the data. The NSA will not need a warrant to access the data as the new agency will not 'exist'. Obama will know this.