Last Sunday night, privacy advocates everywhere had a major cause for celebration: three of the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act—1) the National Security Agency’s bulk phone collection program, 2) the close monitoring of “lone wolf” terror suspects, and 3) the use of roving wiretaps on terror suspects using multiple phones—were dead. The Senate had adjourned without extending the expiring surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act, stripping the U.S. intelligence community of its legal ability to collect U.S. call data and other similarly controversial measures deemed legal for nearly fourteen years in the name of national security.
Privacy hawks such as Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who spearheaded the fight against the renewal of these provisions, appeared to have won a clear victory.
Senator Paul, who recently added his name to the growing Republican Presidential field, could not celebrate for long, however, as the Senate convened Tuesday to pass a House-approved and White House-supported surveillance reform bill, the USA Freedom Act. The law restores most of the provisions that died Sunday night, effectively preserving the government’s extensive spying authority while offering some oversight reforms for good measure.
There is, perhaps, a silver lining for those in Senator Paul’s corner. Though the Freedom Act renews the National Security Agency’s ability to collect American phone records, it requires requests for such records to be focused on a certain factor such as a customer name or a specific number. It clearly bans the bulk collection of phone data. The Freedom Act also attempts to make certain dealings of the NSA more transparent.
The Senate also considered a number of amendments to the Freedom Act that would have strengthened the government’s spying capabilities. All of these amendments were voted down, making the Senate bill identical to the version passed in the House and allowing President Obama to immediately sign the bill into law.