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This bill would create new guidelines for surveillance and data collection under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the PATRIOT Act.

The new guidelines would put a stop to bulk data collection by the government. So, for example, a large-scale, indiscriminate collection of all phone records from a state, city, or zip code would not be allowed. Under current law, bulk collection is authorized by Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, the FISA pen register authority, and national security letter statutes. Bulk collection of phone records (the phone numbers, length of calls etc.) from domestic and international calls made in the U.S. would also be prohibited without a direct order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

If passed, this bill would allow companies — like Internet providers — to challenge national security letter gag orders. Basically if an agency like the FBI requests information from a company, and doesn’t want that request disclosed to the public, companies would have a new process to challenge the gag order. The exception to challenging a gag order would be that disclosing the request for information could be a danger to national security or interfere with an investigation.

A loophole that previously prevented the government from tracking suspected foreign terrorists when they enter the U.S. would be closed. If passed, the government would be authorized under this bill to track a suspected terrorist for 72 hours. The hope is that this window will give federal investigators time to get a legal authorization to track the suspect.

The statutory maximum prison sentence for supporting a designated foreign terrorist organization would be increased to 20 years. International investigations of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation would be enhanced.

The newly-reformed PATRIOT Act would be authorized until December 15, 2019 when it would either sunset or be reauthorized.

","official_title":"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":"(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on May 13, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)\n\nUniting 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\n(Sec. 101) Amends 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. (The FBI currently uses such authority to request FISA orders requiring telephone companies to produce telephone call records to the National Security Agency.)\n\nProhibits the FBI from applying for a tangible thing ...","summarized":true,"cost":15000000,"cost_commentary":"The CBO estimates implementing the bill would cost approximately $15 million over the 2015-2019 period.","impact":"If enacted, the bill most notably would end the NSA's ability to collect American internet and phone records without a court order. Americans whose data would otherwise have been gathered or are concerned with civil liberties, agencies with intelligence and counter-terrorism duties, the FISA court and its panel participants. ","argument_for":"This bill is a step forward for balancing civil liberties and national security. It ends the bulk collection of data, makes FISA courts more transparent, and makes it easier for the government to track known terrorists. ","argument_against":"The un-reformed PATRIOT Act was more effective at providing the necessary intelligence to stop terrorism, and this bill could still do more to protect civil liberties. This leaves the government mired in the gray area between liberty and security. 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Reining in Government Spying: Banning Bulk Data Collection