{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1123-114/featured_uniting-and-strengthening-america-by-fulfilling-rights-and-ensuring-effective-discipline-over-monitoring-act-of-1454549770.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1123-114/featured_large_uniting-and-strengthening-america-by-fulfilling-rights-and-ensuring-effective-discipline-over-monitoring-act-of-1454549770.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s1123-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-04-28","title_override":"Reforming The Federal Government’s Surveillance Program","summary_override":"

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.

","official_title":"A bill to reform the authorities of the Federal Government to require the production of certain business records, conduct electronic surveillance, use pen registers and trap and trace devices, and use other forms of information gathering for foreign intelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal purposes, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015 or the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015\n\nTITLE I--FISA BUSINESS RECORDS REFORMS\n\nAmends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to establish a new process to be followed when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) submits an application to a FISA court for an order requiring the production of business records or other tangible things for an investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.\n\nProhibits the FBI from applying for a tangible thing production order, and prohibits a court from authorizing the collection of tangible things, unless a specific selection term is used as the basis for the production. Maintains limitations under current law that prohibit the FBI from applying for tangible thing production orders for threat assessments.\n\n...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable. ","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. ","argument_for":"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_against":"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. 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Reforming The Federal Government’s Surveillance Program