Stop the NSA "Fake Fix" Bill
After reading the amendment, my take on it is that the EFF article is stating that the whole program needs to be scrapped and criticizing Feinstein for not doing so.  Feinstein is apparently of the opinion that the program could be useful and her tactic is instead to put additional oversight in place.  Here is what this bill <i>does</i> specify:<p>- Codifies that no message content may be collected under this authority<p>- Specifies that any queries against this data must have documentation showing "reasonable articulable suspicion that the selector is associated with international terrorism or activities in preparation thereof" (note that military/political/counter-espionage/etc. is not listed)<p>- A person meeting the above criteria who travels into the US may continue to be targeted for up to 72 hours.  The Attorney General may grant an extension as an "emergency authorization".<p>- A record is to be made for each search against the database of the phone number searched for, the person who searched for it, date and time it occurred and documentation as to why the search was performed.<p>- The documentation for each search must be given to the FISC.  The FISC is explicitly granted the ability to terminate any collection if it finds that the search was unlawful.<p>- Directs the FISC to appoint additional personnel with access to classified information and expertise in "privacy and civil liberties, intelligence collection, telecommunications, or any other area that may lend legal or technical expertise to the court."  An annual report must be submitted to Congress on the number of personnel appointed.<p>- Any individual who circumvents access to the phone records database will be fined or imprisoned for up to 10 years.<p>- A semiannual report needs to be made to the House and Senate Intelligence Subcommittees with information on all electronic surveillance, physical searches and use of pen registers/trap and trace devices conducted under this act.  The report needs to include the total number of requests made to the court, how many were approved/denied/modified, the names of any targets within the United States, compliance incidents, any emergency authorizations, etc.  That information, along with any of the documentation mentioned above must be made available on request to the NSA Inspector General, the Intelligence Community Inspector General, DoJ and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board<p>- An unclassified summary of all of the above information needs to be made available to each member of Congress.