Senate to vote on future of US telephone spying powers

The Senate is set to vote for a new bill that would determine the future of US telephone spying powers. The Patriot Act which allows surveillance and data collection from phone records for security reasons, lapsed after the ruling body failed to vote on whether they would continue its implementation. Majority of the Senate however voted for a reformed legislation of the said act known as the US Freedom Act.

SENATE DEBATE

A report says that the Senate will begin to debate over a new bill after it voted 77-17 in favor of a reformed legislation which is the US Freedom Act. If passed, this will replace the Patriot Act which expired on Sunday midnight after senators failed to revive the said bulk phone records programme during a session. This is because some senators opposed it led by Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul who was even accused by his colleagues of sacrificing national security just for the sake of his political ambitions. Although having already lapsed for a few days, the Patriot Act will still be in effect which means that the government can continue collecting data in relation to foreign intelligence investigations. The said intrusion on citizens' phones, exposed by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden started after the 9/11 attack in 2001 with the aim to thwart possible future terrorist attacks.

FREEDOM ACT

Meanwhile, in the proposed Freedom Act, compared to the massive telephone data collection of the Patriot Act, information will be targeted only to specific suspicious persons. In order to do so, a court order will also be needed. However, before this could happen, it would need at least 60 votes from the 100-member Senate.

Another report says neither the current nor the proposed Act allows the government to get hold of phone conversations.

While the proposed new telephone spying powers is not yet passed, the existing surveillance program will still run for six months.