USA Freedom Act of 2015
Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring
A New Approach to Surveillance
The USA Freedom Act, signed into law by President Obama in 2015, marked a significant shift in the government's approach to surveillance. This act replaced Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which had allowed the government to collect bulk phone records of Americans without a warrant. Under the USA Freedom Act, the government must now obtain a warrant from a court before collecting such data.The new law also introduced a number of other reforms, including:
- A requirement that the government provide more transparency about its surveillance programs
- A ban on the government using National Security Letters to gag recipients from disclosing the existence of the letters
- A creation of a new Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to review the government's surveillance activities
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