The five-member independent surveillance review group convened by...
The five-member independent surveillance review group convened by the White House this fall should remember the “severe global economic impact” following recent surveillance leaks, said the Information Technology Industry Council and the Software & Information Industry Association in a Thursday…
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letter to the group (http://bit.ly/1aPjrj4). The review group is tasked with sending surveillance recommendations to President Barack Obama in December. Other countries worry about U.S. surveillance practices, and companies are losing contracts and suffering as a result, said the letter, which represents more than 500 companies based in the U.S. and abroad. They plead for more transparency, oversight and legal assistance processes for the practices. “Specifically, companies should be permitted to disclose the number of government orders for information made under specific legal authorities, including, but not limited to, separate disclosures for Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, and various National Security Letter statutes,” the letter said. “Also, companies should be permitted to disclose the number of individuals or accounts, including accounts of business customers, impacted by the orders received as well as the type of information that is sought by such orders.” The letter also advocated that civil liberties concerns become part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and that certain court opinions be declassified. “We recommend that the Administration reaffirm the separate roles played by [the National Institute of Standards and Technology] and [the National Security Agency] in cryptographic standards,” it said, citing recent concerns raised by leaks and calling for an investigation. Private companies shouldn’t retain data as part of the surveillance program, the letter added, cautioning that retention requirements “could represent a step backward for privacy, given that they would mandate the retention of the same, or perhaps even an increased volume of information relative to what the NSA has been criticized for collecting.”