Obama to Offer Plan Meant to Ease Concerns on Surveillance | Hacker News Reader

Obama to Offer Plan Meant to Ease Concerns on Surveillance

nytimes.com

22 pointsnsp12 comments

The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue.

NY Times Editorial Board 6/7/2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/opinion/president-obamas-d...

I suspect the original "The administration has now lost all credibility" (http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/06/ny-times-changes...) was more accurate.

At the same time, the N.S.A. was expected to release a paper outlining its role and authorities, officials said. The six- to seven-page document was described as setting up a “foundation” to help people understand the legal framework for its activities. Next week, the agency will open a Web site designed to explain itself better to the public amid Mr. Snowden’s disclosures.

Legal != Right. This whole article makes it sound like their plan is to put lipstick on the pig so it looks more beautiful to the public, where the correct solution would be to find a new pig.

His "4 steps":

1. Work with congress to enact reforms to PATRIOT Act. He said the US is not allowed to listen to any phone calls without a warrant.

2. Work with congress to improve the public's confidence in FISA. Consider changes: a judge reviewing a request only hears one side of the story, but we could allow an outside party to defend civil liberties and privacy "in certain cases".

3. Be more transparent. Create a website to provide more transparency.

4. Form an outside group of intelligence experts to review surveillance technologies.