Barack Obama is being lobbied by privacy advocates for stricter protections
just days after his election victory.
The
Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) has posted a wish-list for the incoming president,
urging Obama to support ordinary citizens and repeal several laws from the Bush
administration.
Headlining the list is the repeal of the FISA Amendments Act. The
controversial
legislation was passed earlier this year and signed into law by Bush.
The legislation gives telcos that had cooperated with information requests
from the National Security Agency immunity from civil lawsuits.
The EFF had strongly opposed the original plan to shield telcos and the
revised 'compromise' which only partially rolled back the protections.
Also on the list of requests for Obama is a commitment to rely less on the
state secrets privilege, which allows the White House to withhold information it
deems pertinent to national security.
The privacy group claims that the Bush administration relied on the privilege
far too often, including in its efforts to prevent investigation of its
electronic spying programme.
"The new administration should voluntarily reduce its use of the privilege,
and work with Congress to reform the privilege and ensure that claims of state
secrecy are subject to independent judicial scrutiny," said the EFF.
Other requests on the list include strengthening the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act to prevent government spying, and a complete repeal
of the Real ID national identification programme.
Many in the tech world are optimistic about the Obama administration's
ability to
work
with the technology industry.
Obama made greater use of the internet for his campaign and advocacy
programmes than any presidential candidate to date, and has already vowed to
appoint the first
national
chief technology officer following his inauguration.
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