In the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s information leak, Americans have been in fear of their personal phone calls and other phone data’s being collected by the federal government.
However, as of Sunday, that program has ceased operation.
CNN reports Congress deemed the bulk data collection aspect of the Patriot Act was illegal without a warrant to search or seize data.
The court did not decide, though, that this kind of data collection was unconstitutional, despite its clear connection to the Fourth Amendment.
Ever since President Obama signed a bill to reform the methods of intelligence acquisition used by the National Security Agency in June, the USA Freedom Act has been in effect.
Basically, the USA Freedom Act stripped the National Security Agency of its ability to collect mass data from ordinary, law-abiding citizens without proper court permission, a provision added after the 9/11 attacks.
Many see this as a loss of a valuable tool to keep Americans safe.
However, others see this as a victory for civil liberties and constitutional rights.
But what is troubling about the expiration of the program on Sunday is, according to a statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the government will be utilizing a more “focused and targeted” approach to collect information.
“Focused and targeted” has not been precisely defined.
Such language gives the government leeway in deciding exactly who gets tapped.
President Obama stated in a CNN interview that the NSA should still take every opportunity to collect data from individuals the government has “probable cause” to believe are involved in terrorist acts.
But with all of the Islamaphobia and racial profiling pervading the U.S. climate in the wake of the refugee crisis, it’s hard to believe that strict standards will be applied in deciding what constitutes probable cause.
Is probable cause a nationality? A religion? This shift in programs can only be successful if it is not simply another outlet for profiling.
Additionally, the halt on large bulk data collection in our phones does nothing to stop the collection of Internet surveillance intelligence.
The PRISM program began in 2008 and gathers stored Internet communication data from industries like Google to target and track possible criminals, with particular interest to foreign communications.
In 2015, we do an incredible amount of communication through the Internet — Facebook, Twitter, emails, you name it. If we need to communicate with someone out of the country, that’s practically the only way to do it. That’s a lot of raw data.
Government officials have assured the public their Internet communications are not monitored without explicit consent from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, at the risk of sounding too conspiratorial, why should we believe that?
If a program that collects bulk data from phone telecommunication companies is not revealed until someone like Edward Snowden finally steps forward from the inside to tell us about it, why could it not happen again?
Overall, the government’s saying they will no longer collect mass data is sort of nice. Just sort of.
The dissolution of the program allows them to be more targeted in their collection, which could open the door to a lot of prejudice.
Additionally, the shift does not do enough to protect people from Internet surveillance. After the Snowden leak, it’s hard to believe anything will change at all.
