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back to article Jackboot dangled over NSA's throat for US spy dragnet outrage

The US House of Representatives will vote today on axing funding for controversial eavesdropping projects run by the NSA and other spooks. The politicians will be asked to approve an amendment that will prevent Uncle Sam's spies from snooping on Americans en masse. While the NSA is under fire for hoovering up foreigners' …

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Re: I called my Congresswoman and asked her to support the amendment

      FYI, I'm glad to say that my Congresswoman did vote in favor of this amendment. So thank you Congresswoman Jackie Speier. While the amendment didn't pass, it was close enough I hope that it will serve as a step forward in ultimately rolling back the surveillance society we are in danger of becoming.

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    2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
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      Re: I called my Congresswoman and asked her to support the amendment

      "And yes, I'd rather we have a real debate over this before we passed something like this, but our leaders don't seem to want a real debate. "

      Well AFAIK the "debate" on THE PATRIOT Act was essentially. "Support this. It will protect American forever and if you don't support it you're practically a terrorist."

      You might like to look up the voting record in both houses on it.

      I think their was damm little dissent from either party.

      Good rule of thumb. Someone hands you a 360 clause contract and says you've got 5 minutes to read it and sign it or they walk. Tell them to walk.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    J Edgar Hoover

    Back in the day, Hoover would send FBI agents out to look into the lives of his political critics to find any dirt they could hover up. He then used this to make sure that they voted in the correct way on any FBI budgets being considered.

    How much you want to bet that the NSA isn't doing this right now. There have been a lot of government employees (Weiner, Petraeus) that have recently been outed using their social Internet networking. I wonder if our own Senator Ron Wyden (R-OR) isn't next given his comments today on the NSA asking the representatives to vote to not fund it.

    It also isn't only the NSA that is hovering up records. I just got a special US Census form to fill out asking many personal questions about race and income. It's the law, don't complete it and they come after you.

    Perhaps I should be careful, being in the USA and sending this to the UK, but I don't really give a damn right now.

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  3. Old Handle
    Meh

    Well, failed to pass. But only by 12 votes. Not bad all things considered. I hope this the the beginning and not the end of attempts to change some of this nonsense legislatively.

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  4. JohnMurray

    And for the full round-up of who voted what:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-24/these-are-217-people-who-voted-preserve-nsa-surveillance

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    1. hplasm
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      Devil

      re:And for the full round-up of who voted what:

      That should be used in the next round of electioneering.

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    2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
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      @JohnMurray

      "And for the full round-up of who voted what:"

      Ultimately the only district you can affect is you own.

      You have to go tactical. If enough of these people are voted out at the next election and it's made clear why people did it that may change the next lot a bit.

      The question do and what should people be more afraid of.

      A single even that happened 12 years ago and affected 2 cities or a their own government spying on them with no evidence of wrong doing other than (like the other 300m US citizens) they might do something that might break the law or threaten The State (because the implication behind these laws is that The State is more important than the citizens, which imply they exist to serve it, not the other way around).

      I think I'd know which one I'd be more afraid of.

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  5. Vimes

    US House votes to continue NSA's phone surveillance

    The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to continue collecting data on US phone calls, in the first legislative move on the programme.

    In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect electronic information.

    BBC News article

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