The USA House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill designed to cut funding for NSA backdoors.
The amendment passed overwhelmingly with strong bipartisan support: 293 ayes, 123 nays, and 1 present.
It should be mentioned that according to Edward Snowden in 2013 NSA was accused of tracking American citizens’ communications without warrants required for this.
The Congressman Zoe Lofgren has submitted the bill. The amendment would block the NSA from using any of its funding from this Defense Appropriations Bill to conduct such warrantless searches. In addition, the amendment would prohibit the NSA from using its budget to mandate or request that private companies and organizations add backdoors to the encryption standards that are meant to keep you safe on the web.
The resolution concerns the USA only and it was still accepted because the NSA uses its powers often illegitimately. Mark Rumold, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation stated that he was pleased with results of vote.
The decision on NSA powers restriction was made in the Congress. The amendment would block the NSA from using any of its funding from this Defense Appropriations Bill to conduct such warrantless searches. In addition, the amendment would prohibit the NSA from using its budget to mandate or request that private companies and organizations add backdoors to the encryption standards that are meant to keep you safe on the web. Barack Obama‘s signature is necessary in order to make the bill legal.
