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Obama Must End US Mass Surveillance Abroad - HRW

© AP Photo / Susan WalshPresident Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2015, about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear.
President Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2015, about the breakthrough in the Iranian nuclear. - Sputnik International
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Under the new law, the US National Security Agency (NSA) must transfer its telephone metadata collection program into the hands of private telecommunications companies over the next six months.

The FBI's reasoning comes across a bit contradictory. - Sputnik International
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US government should act to curtail mass surveillance activities around the world not covered by the USA Freedom Act, a human rights group said in a release on Wednesday.

“The fundamental rights to privacy and free expression so sacred to Americans are no less precious to citizens of other countries, who also shouldn’t be subject to mass surveillance,” Human Rights Watch Internet researcher Cynthia Wong stated.

Wong noted the USA Freedom Act, signed into law on Tuesday night, does not constrain surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendments legislation.

Nor does the USA Freedom Act affect Presidential Executive Order 12333, which is used by the US government to justify comprehensive communications surveillance outside the country.

The National Security Agency building at Fort Meade, Md. The National Security Agency has been extensively involved in the U.S. government's targeted killing program, collaborating closely with the CIA in the use of drone strikes against terrorists abroad, The Washington Post reported Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013 after a review of documents provided by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden. - Sputnik International
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“Comprehensive surveillance reforms are urgently needed to move beyond fixes at the margins,” Wong said.

The USA Freedom Act also does not address many modern surveillance capabilities, from use of malware to interception of all mobile calls in a country, the organization added.

Under the new law, the US National Security Agency (NSA) must transfer its telephone metadata collection program into the hands of private telecommunications companies over the next six months.

Critics of the USA Freedom Act argue that the law is not sufficient to limit the government’s mass surveillance authorities.

US President Barack Obama - Sputnik International
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Human Rights Watch welcomed the new law as the first step toward curbing mass surveillance and as the first legislative restraint on NSA surveillance activities since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

“The USA Freedom Act’s passage marks what could be a turn of the tide against mass surveillance in the US,” Wong said.

The Freedom Act ends bulk collection of phone records, but authorizes the NSA to collect targeted information about certain individuals, if granted permission to do so by a federal court.

In 2013, US intelligence services came under increased scrutiny for their mass surveillance programs after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked classified documents which revealed the scope of US electronic monitoring programs.

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