Tech Giants Urge Senate to Reform NSA Surveillance Powers

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By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2013-10-31 22:36:23 UTC

Tech giants, including Google, Facebook and Apple, have sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to reform the NSA surveillance programs.

The letter, sent on Thursday to top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, implicitly endorses a specific bill, the USA Freedom Act, which would end the NSA program that collects U.S. phone call records.

See also: Email Providers Build Service to Protect Your Inbox From the NSA

Tech companies have been asking for permission to be more transparent in the months following the revelations fueled by Edward Snowden, but this time, they're taking one extra step.

"Our companies believe that government surveillance practices should also be reformed to include substantial enhancements to privacy protections and appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms for those programs," the letter states.

The companies, which also include AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo, "applaud" the sponsors of the USA Freedom Act (.PDF), which would significantly reform the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance powers.

The bipartisan bill, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the principal author of the Patriot Act, was introduced on Monday and lauded by civil liberties groups. The American Civil Liberties Union called it "real spying reform."

Meanwhile, an opposing bill (.PDF), introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. The bill has been introduced to reform the NSA, but it allows the bulk collection of phone records to continue.

For Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a staunch supporter of curtailing NSA surveillance, Feinstein's bill "would codify overbroad surveillance practices that infringe on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans without making America any safer," he said in a statement."

Tech giants seem to have sided with the former, arguably more ambitious, reform bill — now it's lawmakers' turn.

ech Giants Letter in Support of NSA Surveillance Reform Bill USA Freedom Act

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Image: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Topics: AOL, apple, Facebook, Microsoft, NSA, Politics, privacy, surveillance, U.S., US & World, Yahoo