Senate Bill Would Ban Most Bulk Surveillance

An anonymous reader writes: Today Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced a bill that would ban bulk collection of telephone records and internet data for U.S. citizens. This is a stronger version of the legislation that passed the U.S. House in May, and it has support from the executive branch as well. "The bill, called the USA Freedom Act, would prohibit the government from collecting all information from a particular service provider or a broad geographic area, such as a city or area code, according to a release from Leahy's office. It would expand government and company reporting to the public and reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews NSA intelligence activities. Both House and Senate measures would keep information out of NSA computers, but the Senate bill would impose stricter limits on how much data the spy agency could seek."

Comments

What's the point?

[DoofusOfDeath]

It's pretty clear at this point that the executive branch can get away with completely ignoring any law they want, without actual repercussion.

Congress fiddles while our separated-powers republic burns. I can't find words for how much I hate Congress and the President for this.

We already have a bill...

[Bartles]

...it's called the Bill of Rights.

Re:Alright! Go Senate bill

[Just Some Guy]

I find this interesting, since as head of the Executive Branch, he can order the NSA to do what this bill requires without bothering with a law, since no law exists requiring the NSA to collect telephone records on everyone.

However, he can't order the next President to continue his policies. There's a lot to be said for pinning these things down so that they can't be changed on a whim.