New bill aims to rein in NSA’s snooping powers

With so many people getting caught off guard by the National Security Agency’s massive data collection practices, at least one senator wants to put the brakes on some of the NSA’s most controversial activities. IDG News reports that Senator Patrick Leahy (D, VT) has introduced a new bill called the “FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013” that aims to “strengthen privacy protections, accountability and oversight related to domestic surveillance.” The legislation’s key proposal is to narrow the scope of the Patriot Act so that the government must show evidence that a citizen is linked with a foreign group or power before engaging in surveillance. The bill also expands public access to the national security letters that the government sends to Internet companies when it wants user data on the firms’ customers.