Ride the Lightning

Phone Surveillance Limited Under the New Freedom Act

June 4, 2015

As The New York Times reported Tuesday, President Obama signed into law the new USA Freedom Act which bans bulk collection of U.S. cellphone and Internet data by the NSA. The new law requires telecoms rather than the government to maintain call data, which could be searched with an order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Telecoms will take over the job of holding the data during a six-month transition period. They will hold the logs of calls placed from one number to another and the time and duration of those calls, but not the content of what was said.

The law requires the FISA Court to declassify its most important decisions or to provide a summary if that is not possible. It also allows outsiders to argue on behalf of privacy rights in some cases before the court. The new law does not affect NSA collection of foreign Internet data from U.S. companies.

The bill cleared the Senate 67 to 32 after a fierce floor fight. The Senate’s longest-serving member, Patrick J. Leahy, the seven-term Democrat of Vermont, said the legislation, which he co-sponsored, represented “the most significant surveillance reform in decades.”

Like many other people, I believe there is a balance between protecting national security and preserving privacy. The new law is a step in the right direction.

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