House moves to shut down NSA’s warrantless surveillance of phone, Internet records

House moves to shut down NSA’s warrantless surveillance of phone, Internet records

However, civil liberties advocates say the bill doesn't go nearly far enough -- and the government has too much leeway to misrepresent how much spying it is actually doing.

The House Judiciary Committee has passed a measure that would attempt to reign in the controversial USA Patriot Act that has led to seemingly unlimited government surveillance by the National Security Agency, among others.

Called the USA Freedom Act, the bill would seek to put a stop to the massive collection and surveillance of metadata that was unveiled by NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, who has since fled the country and is living in Russia, according to a Christian Science Monitor report.

The bill passed overwhelmingly 25-to-2 in the committee, and it is likely to pass the House. Similar legislation is being drafted in the Senate.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who was the original author of the Patriot Act and has expressed distress at what it has become, said the new bill would end bulk collection of data and secret law, and increases transparency within the intelligence community in a way that allow the U.S. government to still guarantee its citizens’ security.

The bill would stop the NSA from indiscriminately tracking the phone records of ordinary Americans, and instead data stored by phone companies would need approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to access it. In addition, it would result in a panel of experts that would be created to advise the court on issues pertaining to technology and civil liberties.

Human rights advocates are hailing the move to reign in the NSA’s powers and are urging the swift passage of the bill, and it enjoys widespread support in conservative circles, even uniting the usually disagreeing tea party movement and House Speaker John Boehner.

However, many civil liberties advocates are saying the provision doesn’t go nearly far enough. They argue that transparency requirements are weak and the government won’t have to say how many people it is spying on.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail