Dianne Feinstein Describes the Data Handshake

I’m going to transcribe some comments Dianne Feinstein made Tuesday night about how proponents of USA Freedom Act got around a data mandate requiring telecoms to keep data longer than they otherwise would. The short version? Rather than a data mandate, USA Freedom Act would have relied on a data handshake.

I’m prepared to make the compromise, which is that the metadata will be kept by the telecoms.  Senator Chambliss and I wrote a letter to the four big telecoms, and we asked them if they would hold the data. The answer came back from two, yes. And the answer came back from two, no. Since that time, the situation has changed — not in writing — but by personal testament from two of the companies, that they will hold the data for at least two years for business reasons. Now here’s the problem. The mandate that was inherent in the 215 Act is gone. But the fact is that the telecoms have agreed to hold the data. The President himself has assured me of this.

I’ll write more on this, which is legally unbelievably fascinating. But for now, I just wanted to post it.

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4 replies
  1. bloopie2 says:

    Well, if the President and the rest of the IC can lie through their teeth about this stuff, year after year after court hearing after congressional hearing after etc., so can the telecoms. “Sure, we will do that.” Then, “Oops, we really can’t do that. You say we agreed to that? Where’s the signed document?” Big Business is one of the few entities that can lie more/better than Big Government and get away with it.

  2. wallace says:

    quote:”I’ll write more on this, which is legally unbelievably fascinating. But for now, I just wanted to post it.”unquote

    Unbelievably facinating. Right. This is absurd. .Fuck you. Facinating? This shit is getting so preposterous, even cave men know when the shell game is rigged. What I really don’t understand, is why there isn’t an armed insurrection at the borders of WDC. After all…these fuckers have made you into a tax paying slave to the MIC/Oligarchi. Let’s get real folks. It’s YOUR INCOME TAX THAT PAYS FOR :
    1. Torture
    2. Drone assassination
    3. Continuous war
    4. Empire building
    5. Your enslavement

    Comprende? So..what are you going to do now that you know the so called “debate” to rein in the USG surveillance is a ruse to subjugate your great grandchildrens grandchildren as slaves to the Deep State Oligarchi?

    I bet I know. You’ll find it “facinating”.

  3. wallace says:

    Furthermore..when are you going to finally admit, by your own analysis over 10 years that I am aware of..that the so called “rule of law” is a preposterous lie of biblical proportions, perpetrated by the 1% to subjugate the masses? You have demonstrated this fact over and over and over. That’s why I no longer believe that even emptywheels analysis can change anything. I’ll leave it at that.

  4. bloopie2 says:

    So who has tried suing Verizon etc. for ‘breach of privacy by voluntarily giving private information to the government’? That sounds like a no-brainer. What am I missing here?

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