Critics warn that bill would widen NSA’s reach
Saturday November 2, 2013, 11:49 PM
BY ELLEN NAKASHIMA
THE WASHINGTON POST
The Record
WASHINGTON — Privacy advocates and at least one U.S. senator are expressing concern that legislation introduced Thursday would not only endorse the National Security Agency’s collection of all Americans’ phone records, but would also give the agency permission to collect massive amounts of their email records.
The bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which advanced out of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would codify limits that a special court has placed on NSA’s use of the records.
But if the FISA Improvements Act became law, Congress would be validating expansive powers that have been claimed by the NSA and upheld by a court — but never explicitly written into statute — to harvest the phone and email records of millions of Americans, the advocates say.
“The bill that the intelligence committee voted on this week would expressly authorize this bulk collection for the first time, and that would be a huge step backward for the rights of law-abiding Americans,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of four committee members who voted against moving the bill.
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