The Freedom Act will Help Rebuild User Trust in the Internet
Recent revelations of the NSA’s expansive
surveillance programs harm user trust in the digital ecosystem, stifle
innovation, and lead to a harmful balkanization of the Internet.
Internet users around the world must be able to trust that their
information, communications and documents are safe and secure. The
alternative is a race to the bottom where only those users who seek out
complex, bolt-on security tools get protected communications, or worse
yet become reluctant to use digital communications and avoid services
that both improve their lives and drive commerce. Those of us in the
technology sector, citizens at home, and constituents globally are
asking what can be done to regain user trust.
One obvious answer is to change U.S. law to limit the ability of the NSA to conduct such mass surveillance. The Freedom Act, introduced today
in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Sensenbrenner and
in the U.S. Senate by Senator Leahy, does just that. The Freedom Act
takes an important step toward rebuilding user trust by adding
limitations on government collection of data in the name of national
security.
The idea is simple. The NSA should not have a blank check
to access user data from technology companies. Today, gaps in oversight
and legal review permit the NSA to collect and use massive amounts of
data about foreigners AND Americans. This infringes fundamental notions
of privacy for many and undermines safeguards against unreasonable
search afforded under the Constitution. If adopted and passed into law,
the Freedom Act would end bulk collection of Americans’ communications
records. It also requires the government to aggressively filter and
discard information about Americans collected through PRISM and other
programs. Other changes proposed by the Freedom Act can be found here.
Certainly, more is required to address this issue as each
day we learn of new and disturbing aspects of global surveillance on
citizens around the world. The Freedom Act is not a wholesale fix to the
myriad of issues exposed by the NSA’s surveillance programs, but it is a
step in the right direction. We support Congressman Sensenbrenner and
Senator Leahy’s leadership on this crucial issue.
This post is related to our broader work on public policy
issues and the Open Internet. To learn more about how you can get
involved, check out the Mozilla Netpolicy Module wiki.
