The Senate has recently voted to allow reauthorization in the USA Freedom Act, this means that the surveillance bill comes even closer to becoming new law. The USA Freedom Authorization Act actually restores government powers that actually expired in March with the previous Section 215 of the known Patriot Act.
While the Senate had previously adopted the amendment in order to expand oversight, it then proceeded to shoot down a proposal that would actually have restricted the act of warrantless collection of individual's internet searches along with web browsing data.
The previously known USA Freedom Reauthorization Act actually lets law enforcement collect certain "tangible things" that are related to national security investigations even without the use of a warrant. The only requirement would be the approval from a secret court that has actually reportedly rubber-stamped many existing requests.
The House of Representatives
The new law passed the House of Representatives some time earlier this year but it has somehow been sitting in the senate during the start of the current coronavirus pandemic. Today, the senators have approved it with a strong 80 votes for the new law and only 16 votes against it, according to The Hill.
The House of Representatives will actually need to approve the very first amended version of the current bill before even sending it to the president's own desk. The previous USA Freedom Act was actually designed in order to reform the Patriot Act and even limit a huge phone record collection.
This happened following certain leaks from the NSA contractor known as Edward Snowden back in 2013. The surveillance critics still wanted to extend its existing limits in a certain reauthorized version.
Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) along with Patrick Leahy (D-VT) were both previously successful in passing the amendment that would then expand the role of certain independent advisers to the known Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.
Conversely, the well known Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) along with Steve Daines (R-MT) had actually failed by just one vote to pass a certain rule that prohibited the use of warrantless surveillance of an individuals internet search along with browsing records.
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The new law
Wyden actually ultimately voted right against the certain reauthorization. According to his statement, the legislation now gives the government power for warrantless searches and collection of the American's own web browsing, internet searches, along with other private information. This can be done even without having to prove that those specific individuals have done anything to break the law.
The statement continued by saying that this is done without further reform of these apparently vague as well as dangerous Patriot Act authorities. The Congress is also inviting even more secret interpretations of this very law along with its abusers.
This new law bypasses the previous measurements made to ensure the privacy of an individual's search history along with their web browsing history.
