Obama continues, extends some Bush terrorism policies

NBC ^ | 6/6/2013 | Tom Curry

[haffast]

President Barack Obama has continued to pursue some of the same anti-terrorism policies as the Bush administration, and, in at least one instance, expanded upon them.

In the clearest example, Obama has authorized more than 300 overseas drone strikes against suspected terrorists as president – that’s compared to an estimate of roughly 50 such strikes under President George W. Bush – even as Obama has proposed new restrictions governing the policy.

And on Wednesday, it was revealed that the Obama administration has requested wholesale collection of data from Verizon related to routine phone calls many Americans make, a continuation of the FISA program passed under the Bush administration.

snip

On searches of telecommunications data, Obama as a candidate in 2008 disappointed some of his supporters by voting for an addition to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which revised surveillance rules in terrorism cases and granted immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in Bush’s warrantless surveillance program.

In a statement to supporters in 2008, Obama acknowledged that the legal immunity for telecom firms “potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses.”

But he said under the circumstances, the bill was the best available and “makes it clear to any president or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court.”

snip

[haffast]

He said that “although it’s tempting to see this as President Obama continuing the legally problematic surveillance practices of his predecessor, it’s important to understand the very real differences, too. That doesn’t make this development any less distressing from a civil liberties perspective, but from a separation of powers perspective, to compare the two administrations is to compare apples to oranges.”

Drones
FISA - (1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)
PRISM
ECHELON??
What else???

Dear Leader don't like 'em.....he LOVES 'em, once he got the adult's job and unleashed their full potential.

Protecting me from the terrorists. Just mo' better. /s

[NonValueAdded]

I’m sure they mean EXPAND.

[Snickering Hound]

[haffast]

No, he meant “extends”, it’s Bush’s fault the Obamites “expanded”.....

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

‘Terrorizing American citizens’, that is.

[tbw2]

RIOT - tailored to data mining social networks
What is Rapid Information Overlay Technology or RIOT Software?
http://tamarawilhite.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Rapid-Information-Overlay-Technology-or-RIOT-Software

[Jack Hammer]

And for all those whose telephone service is Verizon, welcome to the NSA.

Big Brother, king hussein, is listening in.

[kaehurowing]

I’m sure any such “extension” was entirely inadvertent.

[tbw2]

Amazing how they admit Obama did worse, but it is still Bush’s fault.

[PeevedPatriot]

Still, there has been continuity in the policies between the two presidents.

Perhaps, but the outcome has been different. After 9/11 we didn't see the likes of the Boston bombings or the Ft Hood shooting on US soil under GWB. And under GWB, we could call our enemy our enemy. Nowadays it's law abiding US citizens who are treated as wrongdoers.

[seeker41]

Add AT&T and Sprint to the list.

[KittenClaws]

I don’t care whose name Obama drops. I hate ‘me all.

Just because Bush may have started this, does not mean I’ll feel better about it. In fact, bush lost me when he sided with Vicente fox over the minutemen.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it Obama!

[haffast]

Thanks. That was a RIOT.

What if we took a machine like

Person of Interest: Surveillance on steroids sci-fi or fact?
http://blogs.computerworld.com/18976/person_of_interest_surveillance_on_steroids_sci_fi_or_fact

....hook up a couple of drones overhead with AI to take out the bad guys before they committed crimes.....hey wait, I’m on FR, I’m already targeted!

Killer Robots: UN Official Joins Call For Ban
http://news.sky.com/story/1097305/killer-robots-un-official-joins-call-for-ban

[haffast]

IDW?
https://www.eff.org/issues/foia/investigative-data-warehouse-report

[mirkwood]

[tbw2]

I read the Pentagon paper on the risk of using independent robots in battle. It was jokingly referred to as the only military / intelligence paper to reference both Terminator movies and Art of War.
It talked about the natural sympathy to the hero facing down the tanks of Tianemen Square or a line of Terminators - and we’re creating these heroes by gunning them down via remote control, and often getting lots of innocent bystanders, too.

[darkwing104]

Reading this liberal spin reminds me that George Orwell's "1984" was published 64 years ago this week.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Reading this liberal spin reminds me that George Orwell's "1984" was published 64 years ago this week."

I tell people all the time: "Your calender may show 2013 but we are living in "1984"...!"

[sickoflibs]

He is keeping you safe, what is you a terrorist or sumthin??
You are either with us or against us....you commie.

DA-DA-DA... mission accomplished..

[Republican1795.]

So much for those lofty yet completely discredited promises of reversing the so called Bush era policies.