Oh Difi. Again?
by digby
It figures that instead of tightening the requirements on the NSA that Difi and her panel would actually loosen them. It’s just how she rolls. Here’s Emptywheel with the details:
Here’s how, in June, DiFi described the terms on which NSA could access the dragnet database.
It can only look at that data after a showing that there is a reasonable, articulable that a specific individual is involved in terrorism, actually related to al Qaeda or Iran. At that point, the database can be searched. [my emphasis]
Here are the terms on which her Fake Fix permits access to the database.
there was a reasonable articulable suspicion that the selector was associated with international terrorism or activities in preparation therefor.[my emphasis]
The bill passed yesterday does not require any tie to al Qaeda (or Iran!). An association with al Qaeda (and Iran!) is one possible standard for accessing the database. But it also permits use of the data if someone is “associated with activities in preparation” for international terrorism.
Does that include selling drugs to make money to engage in “terrorism”? Does that include taking pictures of landmark buildings? Does that include accessing a computer in a funny way?
All of those things might be deemed “activities in preparation” for terrorism. And this bill, as written, appears to permit the government to access the database of all the phone-based relationships in the US based not on any known association with al Qaeda (and Iran!), but instead activities that might indicate preparation for terrorism but might also indicate mild nefarious activity or even tourism crossing international borders.
“International terrorism” is such a nice vague term, don’t you think? And judging from what we know about previous government incursions into our privacy (and the privacy of virtually every person on the planet) should they deem it “necessary” I’m going to take a wild guess that Marcy’s list of “possibilities” is just a start.
I confess that I have cynically assumed that Difi’s public hissy fit over Angela Merkel’s phone tap was likely a kabuki designed to prove to foreign leaders that spying on foreign leaders is the one bridge too far. (They don’t like it.) Other than that, Feinstein has been all too happy to rubber stamp any cockamamie rationale the NSA comes up with and work hard to legalize their illegal behavior every time they get caught.
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