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Hi all,<br>
<br>
Thanks for the great suggestions on the letter. As Emma mentioned
below we should try and finalize as much possible the letter by end
of day today so that we can circulate a final copy tomorrow. This
would give us a week or so for sign-ons prior to the Aug. 1
deadline. <br>
<br>
Best.<br>
<br>
Matthew<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 23/07/2013 21:08, Emma Llanso wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:51EF2902.1080702@cdt.org" type="cite">
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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
moz-do-not-send="true" 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
moz-do-not-send="true"
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 moz-do-not-send="true"
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 moz-do-not-send="true"
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 moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/#%21/CenDemTech">@cendemtech</a> |
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/#%21/ellanso">@ellanso</a></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Matthew Shears
Director and Representative
Global Internet Policy and Human Rights
Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mshears@cdt.org">mshears@cdt.org</a>
+44 (0) 771 247 2987
Skype: mshears
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