The government can keep on surveilling your online life without a warrant. An amendment to ban it failed by just one vote.
Tag Archives: USA Freedom Act
NSA might shut down phone snooping program, whatever that means
We’ve heard this tale before. This time, it was mentioned by a congressional aide. Also, the NSA released Ghidra, a free reverse-engineering tool.
Surveillance court OKs NSA phone metadata collection for six more months
Let the NSA’s bulk metadata collection continue for six more months, the court rules, until the phone companies get control over the records. Plus ça change…!
Obama signs USA Freedom Act into law, clipping NSA’s powers
Patriot Act provisions snap back to life, but spying will be a tad more inconvenient for the NSA, and there’ll be a bit more transparency.
Thousands of sites block and redirect Congress to Patriot Act protest page
#ifeelnaked, the protest page says, showing nude photos in protest of surveillance that feels like online strip search. The Senate on Sunday let three Patriot Act provisions expire. 
Senate kills bill that would have reined in NSA and rampant surveillance
Yesterday the Senate axed The USA Freedom Act, which missed the chance to be debated by just two “yes” votes. With it goes what privacy advocates had called the best opportunity yet to curb the country’s run-amok surveillance.
US Senator takes a swing at the NSA
If it emerges unscathed from the chamber, it could mean an end to bulk metadata collection, an end to the secrecy the government’s been operating under, and reform of the USA Patriot Act that’s been used to grant it vast surveillance rights. 
US House votes “overwhelmingly” to cut funding of NSA surveillance
A strong majority of the US House have voted to cut funding for surveillance on citizens or for planting backdoors that let the government slip past encryption that’s supposed to shield communications. 
US House committee unanimously votes to rein in NSA, end bulk data collection
The USA Freedom Act is a watered-down version of an earlier bill – it’s been re-dubbed the “Freedumb Act” – and it’s seen as a weakened compromise between the intelligence community and those concerned with people’s rights not to be snooped on. But hey, privacy groups say, it’s still a step in the right direction. 