Security News > 2020 > May > Senate renews warrantless collection of web histories

The answer to the "Who" in "Who knows what" is "The government." Last week, the Senate narrowly missed an opportunity to protect Americans' web histories from government surveillance.

In June 2015, the Patriot Act was replaced by the USA Freedom Act: a bill meant to clip the NSA's spying powers by slightly inconveniencing its metadata collection from US citizens and introducing more accountability and transparency for it and the FISA court.

Last week, Senator Wyden issued a plea for his proposed amendment to ban warrantless government surveillance on Americans' internet browsing histories.

The ban on collecting web histories without a warrant needed 60 votes to pass.

The legislation hands the government power for warrantless collection of Americans' web browsing and internet searches, as well as other private information, without having to demonstrate that those Americans have done anything wrong, or even were in contact with anyone suspected of wrongdoing.

News URL

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/05/18/senate-renews-warrantless-collection-of-web-histories/