Secret Data Collection on Innocent Americans Allowed Under Bill
by Chris StrohmKathleen Hunter
5:00 AM EDT
May 20, 2015
A bill to limit widespread spying by the National Security Agency would continue to allow the U.S. to secretly obtain large amounts of data on innocent Americans.
Senate leaders ended a standoff Tuesday by agreeing to vote on a House-passed bill that would prohibit the NSA from collecting bulk records while renewing three U.S. spy programs set to expire in two weeks.
The bill is touted by supporters as representing one of the most significant overhauls of national security laws in decades. Privacy advocates question whether the measure will significantly curtail NSA spying powers revealed in 2013 by former U.S. contractor Edward Snowden.
“The intent is to narrow collection, but the reality is it’s written in such a way that it’s ambiguous,” said Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. “It doesn’t end broad collection that could sweep up information about innocent Americans.”
The bill is the only piece of legislation curbing NSA powers that Congress has been able to advance two years since the Snowden revelations. Under it, the NSA could still collect Internet Protocol addresses used by thousands of people from companies like Google Inc. or Yahoo! Inc., records of international money transfers and information about all guests staying at the same hotel.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-20/secret-data-collection-on-innocent-americans-allowed-under-bill
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