House of Representatives Approves Bill To End Bulk NSA Data Collection.

[Sole-Warrior]

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that would end spy agencies' bulk collections of Americans' telephone data, setting up a potential showdown with the U.S. Senate over the program that expires on June 1.

As voting continued, the House overwhelmingly backed the USA Freedom Act, which would end the bulk collection program and instead give intelligence agencies access to telephone data and other records only when a court finds there is reasonable suspicion about a link to international terrorism.

The bill's fate is much less certain in the Senate, where many key lawmakers would rather reauthorize the existing bulk data collection program than approve the Freedom Act.

It passed 338 - 88 overwhelmingly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/us...tion.html?_r=0

So far so good, but it still needs to go through the Senate before it becomes final. And this is only for phone data.

[Independent voter]

I wonder if it's because they know the Senate will kill it? Maybe an election year thing?

[Deleted]

Why? The outrage at being being spied on even if you did nothing wrong, subsided a long time ago. Why bring it back up now? We know the government wants this because it keeps the americans safe from the terrorists and pedophiles, or whatever crap they are feeding them in the media, so why try to stop it?

[Doctor Amadeus]

I am ok with the NSA spying on me, no worse than Google or Facebook

[Stormdash]

It has a tougher road in the Senate, but I think public pressure is enough to force it through. Nobody has an electoral upside in this program. It's one of the few positives in recent years, proof that yes, a liberty interest can still be more important than what's efficient for the state in its security and compassion apparatus.

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I am ok with the NSA spying on me, no worse than Google or Facebook

Google and Facebook don't have their own paramilitaries to set upon you

[Daerio]

It has a tougher road in the Senate, but I think public pressure is enough to force it through. Nobody has an electoral upside in this program.

I'm not sure I agree. The "nothing to hide" crowd is pretty numerous these days. Lack of understanding of how it could be abused coupled with complete lack of knowledge about history.

And I don't understand why this is happening so late in the game.