Bipartisan Bill Aims to Reform NSA Surveillance of Americans

U.S. lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill that aims to reform the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs in an effort to protect citizens’ rights.


The bill, named Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act of 2020, was introduced by a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of lawmakers led by Sen. Ron Wyden. The senator, a vocal critic of the NSA’s surveillance programs, last year introduced a bill that sought to put an end to the mass collection of Americans’ phone records.


The Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act of 2020 targets the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. The controversial Section 215 has allowed the NSA to collect billions of phone records and other types of data.


Section 215 was set to expire in December 2019, but it was silently extended to March 15, 2020.


The new bill seeks to permanently end what lawmakers describe as the “flawed phone surveillance program,” and prohibits the warrantless collection of location, browsing history, and internet search history data.


It also aims to close legal loopholes that have been used by the U.S. government to collect communications records without a court order, and ensures more oversight and transparency by giving independent attorneys access to all documents, records and proceedings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.


“Congress must do its job to uphold the Constit ..

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