The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court this week gave the NSA permission to resume spying on Americans’ phone calls for a period of 180 days.
In June, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act, which put an end to the bulk phone data collection. However, there was a provision in the act that allowed the program to be extended for a period of six months to give the government time to transition to another method of spying.
In May, an appellate court ruled the NSA bulk phone data collection program was illegal.
FISA said, “Congress deliberately carved out a 180-day period following the date of enactment in which such collection was specially authorized. For this reason, the Court approves the application in this case.”
In other words, the NSA is once again allowed to vacuum up the call data of every American.
