MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama signed into law the Freedom Act, a replacement for the George W. Bush-era Patriot Act, that allowed the mass surveillance of regular US citizens. The legislation has not entirely barred intelligence agencies from bulk data collection.
"The USA Freedom Act acts as if records that aren't in your personal possession are fair game. 'Lawful' should be based on the standard of the highest law of our land — specifically, the Fourth Amendment. Mere legislation or judicial opinions that contradict it are, in the truest sense, illegal," Jim Babka told Sputnik.
"The Fourth [Amendment] was, and still is a clear property-based right. In two recent Supreme Court cases, we've been able to bring back this understanding that you have an expectation to be secure in your person, your papers, your property, and your effects. But the USA Freedom Act is much like the Patriot Act where it assumes that these records do not belong to you," the head of the anti-big government movement argued.
The Freedom Act will end the bulk collection of phone records, but could be used to enable the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect information about certain individuals, if granted permission to do so by a federal court.
