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<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> Dear all,<br>
<br>
As you may be aware, the US Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight
Board is accepting comments commentary regarding the US
government's surveillance programs under the PATRIOT Act and
FISA. (I've included some information about PCLOB below in case
you're not familiar with this entity.) I'd like to share with you
a draft was put together by CDT, with feedback from a number of
folks on this list, that focuses on the impact these programs have
on the human rights of individuals outside the US: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/17BWIev_DybbML3ObDCORkW83THrNGuJrHlV5sQLdYA0/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/document/d/17BWIev_DybbML3ObDCORkW83THrNGuJrHlV5sQLdYA0/edit?usp=sharing</a>
<br>
<br>
We feel that the draft text is at a point where it's ready to be
shared with the broader Best Bits community for comment. Please
share any comments you have on the letter text with the whole
list. (I will be traveling on Wednesday and so slow to respond to
email.) Ideally, we'd like to have a final draft of the letter
text available to circulate during the day on Thursday, giving us
about a week to solicit sign-on from as broad an array of groups
as possible. This is a very compressed timeframe, unfortunately,
but the deadline for submitting comments is August 1st, so there
is not much flexibility in the schedule.<br>
<br>
The Best Bits interim steering committee has agreed to host the
final letter text on the Best Bits website to facilitate sign-on
once we've reached that point. <br>
<br>
It's worth noting here that while a joint letter with broad
international sign in is one way of getting the US government to
consider the rights of non-US persons, so is flooding PCLOB with
individual letters from international groups, so please feel free
to adapt or build on to this letter and submit it separately. We
intentionally did not make recommendations to PCLOB so as to
garner broad sign on (more on that below), but individual letters
are a good opportunity to make specific recommendations.<br>
<br>
<b>Background on the letter:</b><br>
PCLOB will be preparing a report and is <a
href="http://www.regulations.gov/#%21documentDetail;D=PCLOB-2013-0005-0001">accepting
comments</a> (with no limitations on who can submit comments)
until August 1st. As many of you know, it's been an uphill battle
to get any attention on this critical issue of extraterritorial
impacts of the US surveillance programs. PCLOB hosted an open
hearing on the NSA program earlier in July, and there was
unfortunately only a single reference to the human rights of
people other than US citizens during the entire hearing. We think
this comment process is one of the better opportunities that
groups from outside the US will have in making their opinions
about the US surveillance activities heard. I'd highly encourage
organizations and individuals to make their own comments into this
process, in addition to considering signing this letter.<br>
<br>
As a final note, the letter intentionally does not lay out
recommendations more specific than "take into consideration the
human rights of individuals outside the US", for several reasons.
First, it will likely be more difficult for a broad range of
groups to sign onto something urging very specific legal or policy
remedies. Further, I wouldn't want to see a short, easily agreed
set of recommendations (e.g. focusing on transparency) get
interpreted to mean that those fixes are the only thing the US
government needs to do to remedy the situation. Transparency is
an important initial step, but it's far from the only action
needed here (a point CDT will be emphasizing in our individual
comments to PCLOB). Again, I'd strongly recommend groups file
individual comments as well, particularly if you have specific
recommendations and actions for the Board.<br>
<br>
<br>
Looking forward to your comments,<br>
Emma<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>PCLOB - WHAT IS IT?</b> -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/privacy-and-civil-liberties-oversight-board">https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/privacy-and-civil-liberties-oversight-board</a><br>
<br>
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is an advisory
body to assist the President and other senior Executive branch
officials in ensuring that concerns with respect to privacy and
civil liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation
of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to
war against terrorism. <br>
<br>
Recommended by the July 22, 2004, report of the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, the
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was established by the
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. It
consists of five members appointed by and serving at the pleasure
of the President. The Board is part of the White House Office
within the Executive Office of the President and supported by an
Executive Director and staff. <br>
<br>
The Board advises the President and other senior executive branch
officials to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and
civil liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation
of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to
efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism. This includes
advising on whether adequate guidelines, supervision, and
oversight exist to protect these important legal rights of all
Americans. In addition, the Board is specifically charged with
responsibility for reviewing the terrorism information sharing
practices of executive branch departments and agencies to
determine whether guidelines designed to appropriately protect
privacy and civil liberties are being followed, including those
issued by the President on December 16, 2005. In the course of
performing these functions within the executive branch, the Board
seeks the views of private sector, non-profit and academic
institutions, Members of Congress, and all other interested
parties and individuals on these issues.<br>
<br>
This agency has published <a
href="https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/search?conditions%5Bagency_ids%5D%5B%5D=438&skip_results=1#advanced">13
articles</a> since 1994.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Emma J. Llansó<br>
Policy Counsel<br>
Center for Democracy & Technology<br>
1634 I Street NW, Suite 1100<br>
Washington, DC 20006<br>
202-407-8818 | <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/CenDemTech">@cendemtech</a>
| <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/ellanso">@ellanso</a></div>
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