logo

Paul, Snowden, Gabbard Agree: NSA Just Took a Major Step in the Right Direction

image
Created: 02 May, 2017
Updated: 17 October, 2022
2 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTsBAxngGLY

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), and Edward Snowden all have reason to cheer the recent win for privacy.

On Friday, the NSA announced that it would end the controversial practice of collecting communications of U.S. citizens who are incidentally swept up in surveillance of individuals overseas. This practice was allowed under the controversial FISA 702, which was a product of the expansion of national security powers following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

While officials claim that this development is unrelated to the recent drama surrounding the Trump wiretap claims, those claims certainly brought this surveillance practice into the national dialogue, as those accusations led to revelations that Trump could have been swept up in overseas wiretaps. At that time, Sen. Rand Paul commented on FISA 702, explaining:

"The way it works is, the FISA court, through Section 702, wiretaps foreigners and then [NSA] listens to Americans. It is a backdoor search of Americans. And because they have so much data, they can tap — type Donald Trump into their vast resources of people they are tapping overseas, and they get all of his phone calls."

Many felt that this practice violated the Fourth Amendment, but it was ultimately discarded following "a discovery that N.S.A. analysts had violated rules imposed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court barring any searching for Americans’ information in certain messages captured through such wiretapping."

Some have praised the decision to halt this practice, while some claim that it doesn't go far enough.

Among those who have lauded the decision are Gabbard and Snowden. Snowden's 2013 leaks led to the initial reveal of these practices. He called the change "likely the most substantive of the post-2013 NSA reforms, if the principle is applied to all other programs."

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/858021773425729543

Gabbard released this statement regarding the change:

IVP Existence Banner

“For years, Americans have been kept in the dark about our government's unconstitutional collection of their personal communications and data in the name of national security. This change in NSA policy is an important step in the right direction. In order to ensure we do not backtrack on this progress, I will be introducing legislation to permanently codify this policy change to permanently ban this privacy-invading collection."

We will be watching to see what kind of legislation Gabbard introduces, and what it might mean for the future of surveillance and privacy in America.

Latest articles

votes
Wyoming Purges Nearly 30% of Its Voters from Registration Rolls
It is not uncommon for a state to clean out its voter rolls every couple of years -- especially to r...
27 March, 2024
-
1 min read
ballot box
The Next Big Win in Better Election Reform Could Come Where Voters Least Expect
Idaho isn't a state that gets much attention when people talk about politics in the US. However, this could change in 2024 if Idahoans for Open Primaries and their allies are successful with their proposed initiative....
21 March, 2024
-
3 min read
Courts
Why Do We Accept Partisanship in Judicial Elections?
The AP headline reads, "Ohio primary: Open seat on state supreme court could flip partisan control." This immediately should raise a red flag for voters, and not because of who may benefit but over a question too often ignored....
19 March, 2024
-
9 min read
Nick Troiano
Virtual Discussion: The Primary Solution with Unite America's Nick Troiano
In the latest virtual discussion from Open Primaries, the group's president, John Opdycke, sat down ...
19 March, 2024
-
1 min read
Sinema
Sinema's Exit Could Be Bad News for Democrats -- Here's Why
To many, the 2024 presidential primary has been like the movie Titanic - overly long and ending in a disaster we all saw coming from the start. After months of campaigning and five televised primary debates, Americans are now faced with a rematch between two candidates polling shows a majority of them didn’t want....
19 March, 2024
-
7 min read