As if cybersecurity threats are not enough, Americans must also be wary that their own government is spying on them. A new version of the USA Freedom Act though seeks to change that.
On Tuesday, Senator Patrick Leahy introduced a bill seeking to ban bulk collection of data from Internet use and telephone records as well as narrow down how much information can be extracted from a particular search.
Called the USA Freedom Act, the bill goes beyond what a version passed in May sought to achieve, prohibiting the U.S. government from harvesting all kinds of data from a certain service provider or a geographic area, like an area code or a city.
"If enacted, this bill would represent the most significant reform of government surveillance authorities since Congress passed the USA Patriot Act 13 years ago," said Leahy.
The Patriot Act was put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, allowing phone records to be collected in bulk. The Freedom Act, instead, will authorize the collection of phone records but only information contained in results "two hops" away from search terms may be taken. At the same time, the types of search terms that can be used will also be limited. For example, information may be collected on the duration of a phone call but not the actual content of the conversation.
Laura W. Murphy commends the bill which dramatically hampers a surveillance system that has gone out of control. The American Civil Liberties Union legislative director adds that the bill is not perfect but it was a good start for real NSA reform that Americans have been yearning for since the Patriot Act was enacted in 2001.
"[The bill] would go a long way toward stemming the costs of the NSA's spying programs and restoring trust in the American Internet industry. But ensuring that a strong version of USA Freedom becomes law is only the first step toward repairing the damage that the NSA has done to America's tech economy, its foreign relationships, and the security of the Internet itself," added New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute policy director, Kevin Bankston.
Congress will be taking a five-week break this week so the fate of the USA Freedom Act is not clear. Leahy plans to skip committee markup, bringing the bill directly to the Senate floor to increase chances of getting the bill voted on this year.
