USA Freedom Act To Modernize Surveillance Laws Passes House with Overwhelming Bipartisan Majority

Washington, DC – After two years of tireless effort from the Internet industry and others to bring about long-needed surveillance reform, the House Passed the USA Freedom Act of 2015 with an overwhelming bipartisan majority vote of 338-88. Passage of this bill would update surveillance laws to secure users online information in a way that increases transparency and accountability while maintaining national security.

The USA Freedom Act takes meaningful steps to prohibit bulk collection of Internet data and creates systems to improve oversight and accountability of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Additionally, it sets a foundation for future improvements to surveillance laws.

Protecting global Internet users through surveillance reform is of paramount importance to the Internet industry and our member companies, many of whom have expressed strong support for the USA Freedom Act.

Legislation such as the USA Freedom Act of 2015 is long overdue. The Internet Association strongly supports today’s passage and will continue to emphasize the need for additional surveillance reforms going forward.