US secret surveillance reinstated as President Barack Obama signs USA Freedom Act into law. The US Senate has voted to limit the government’s ability to collect phone data, a policy that had been in place since the attacks of 11 September 2001.
The USA Freedom Act extends the government’s ability to collect large amounts of data, but with restrictions. The bill, which replaces the Patriot Act, had been backed by President Obama as a necessary tool to fight terrorism. The new law replaces a National Security Agency program in which the spy agency collected personal data en masse.