USA Freedom Outsources Bulk Collection to Telecom Companies, Former Qwest CEO Says
Bulk collection of telephony metadata began before 9/11, just as drones and cyberwarfare began long before the public knew about them, said former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio Wednesday during a news conference on what he considers the USA Freedom Act's…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
shortcomings. The intelligence community doesn’t advertise what it does and has never liked oversight, Nacchio said. The retroactive immunity granted to telecom companies after 9/11 was the first retroactive immunity ever given to the private sector, he said. There are at least 23 intelligence agencies in the U.S., he said, and USA Freedom is insufficient because it attempts to rein in the NSA’s activities by outsourcing bulk collection to the telecom companies, as well as Internet and social media companies, which have no choice but to cooperate, but doesn’t address activities at any other agency. Telecom or Internet companies that say no to the government will be subject to some sort of sanction such as an antitrust or FCC investigation, he said. Americans should be worried about the defense/intelligence complex and put nothing on the Web, he said. Social networking is a “dangerous trend” that immunizes individuals against the dangers of surveillance, he said. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures are just a moment in time that shouldn't be fixated upon, but should be used to look at when developing policies that affect the future, Nacchio said. Nacchio couldn’t say whether the intelligence community will protest any actions to restrict Section 702 surveillance authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act when it sunsets in 2017. But even if intelligence agencies turn their attention to Internet and social media communications, that ISP traffic has to travel through fiber networks controlled by telecom companies, so telecom companies will continue to be affected, he said. The U.S. government has to be on the cutting edge of technology, but Americans don't have to give away their freedoms and liberties in the name of national security, Nacchio said.