New Bill Would Finally Stop NSA’s Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data
Since the 9/11 attacks, the National Security Agency has operated a dragnet of the phone records of hundreds of millions of Americans without specific suspicion of their involvement in terrorism. Almost 18 years later, civil-libertarian legislators from both parties are introducing a bill to abolish a vestige of one of the most infamous surveillance programs in American history.
The new Ending Mass Collection of Americans’ Phone Records Act would remove any authority for the NSA and FBI to domestically collect phone records “other than those identified by the specific selection term included in [a warrant] application.” Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), four of Congress’ leading surveillance skeptics, unveiled the bill on Thursday.
“It’s time, finally, to put a stake in the heart of this unnecessary government surveillance program and start to restore some of Americans’ liberties,” Wyden said in a statement.
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