The Senate passed and President Obama signed into law Tuesday the USA Freedom Act, which many are calling the first big step in reforming government spying because it s meant to rein in the bulk collection of phone records. It s a move that s being hailed by public advocacy groups and many in the tech industry — which had supported the bill. Now they are talking about what s next.
[The] vote represents a critical first step toward restoring trust in the Internet, but it is only a first step, Google Vice President for Public Policy Susan Molinari said in a statement. We look forward to working with Congress on further reforms in the near future.
The tech industry has a lot at stake: Its business and reputation were affected by the Edward Snowden leaks that led to revelations about massive government spying, including the government s use of the information tech companies collect from their users.
TechFreedom s reaction: Congress should now work to address the mess of surveillance and privacy intrusions at all levels of government — not just for intelligence agencies, but for law enforcement, too. It should start by putting an end to warrantless searches of Americans emails by police — a reform supported by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the House.
From the i2Coalition (Internet Infrastructure Coalition), whose members include Amazon, Google, Rackspace, VeriSign: The USA Freedom Act is a necessary and crucial first step to remedying U.S. surveillance practices and restoring consumer faith in businesses to the benefit of U.S. economic growth. We have won the battle, not the war.
Public advocacy groups more explicitly point out the bill s shortcomings:
It s a testament to the significance of the Snowden disclosures and also to the hard work of many principled legislators on both sides of the aisle, the ACLU said in a statement. Still, no one should mistake this bill for comprehensive reform. The bill leaves many of the government s most intrusive and overbroad surveillance powers untouched, and it makes only very modest adjustments to disclosure and transparency requirements.
Demand Progress, a public advocacy group that runs online campaigns for many causes, was against the USA Freedom Act, with Executive Director David Segal saying it actually made Americans less free… it does not end mass surveillance and could be interpreted by the Executive branch as authorizing activities the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has found to be unlawful.
Photo of the NSA building in Fort Meade, Maryland by Associated Press
