Bills
| 3.23.22

Reforming The Federal Government’s Surveillance Program (S. 1123)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is S. 1123?

(Updated March 15, 2018)

This bill aims to reform the National Security Agency (NSA) and change its policies around surveilling people in the U.S.

It would stop the federal government's bulk collection of metadata — like phone call records relating to a specific area code, phone provider, geographic region, or zip code. The government would also have to make public the number of people it collects data on.

Instead, NSA would be offered the authority to request calling records from phone companies for specific reasons. Even then, the government would have to get rid of information that did not have intelligence value and their operations would be subject to stronger oversight. 

Big name tech companies have an agreement with the US government that prevents companies from revealing much about the amount of data the government collects.The bill would allow tech companies to report in more detail to the public on surveillance requests they receive from the government.

Argument in favor

The Obama Administration’s data collection program violates the privacy of people in the U.S. While there should be no data mining, but if it happens, there need to be more regulations to keep the NSA accountable for its surveillance.

Argument opposed

The federal intelligence community should be given free rein to collect data, so it can effectively protect the country against terrorists. If people have something to hide, perhaps they shouldn't be doing it at all.

Impact

People who use technology that can be surveilled by the federal government; communication and tech companies; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the National Security Agency.

Cost of S. 1123

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In Depth:

Of Note: 

A few years ago, several big tech companies sued the federal government arguing for their right to reveal how much data the government collects on their clients.

14 organizations lobbied to support the bill, including Google — spending $3.94 million lobbying on the bill, and AT&T which spent approximately $3.47 million.


Media:

(Photo Credit: "This Phone Is Tapped" by david drexler. Licensed under Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons)