Patriot Act: information on the changes made to the U.S. Patriot act

Some of the key sections of the notorious US Patriot act have undergone changes and will affect the people of the United States in a number of ways. The controversial law which empowers the United States government to collect meta data from the smartphones and other devices used by its citizens has been widely criticized by many as an infringement on the fundamental rights of the people.

Changes to section 215: The Bulk meta data collections

Section 215 is the section that gives power to the NSA to collect meta data on all calls made to and from the United States of America, even if individuals making or receiving such calls are not under any serious investigation. The new changes being made on this act has been triggered by the latest ruling of the US court of Appeals, that states that “the program exceeds the scope of what the Priority Act had established”. The congress had debated on this Act and one of the new changes that will be made shortly is that only meta data relating to security issues will be collected.

Changes to section 206

Section 206 of the Patriot Act gives the NSA the permission to identify any secretive FISA courts ( these are courts not accessible by the public). New changes made on this Act will allow the NSA to obtain warrants for surveillance, and wiretap any communication used by suspects and the NSA can simply tap a new line obtained by suspects , without collecting any new warrant. New changes made on this act indicates that NSA will still have to identify all the targets involved.

The New “Lone Wolf Warrants”

The new Lone Wolf Warrants allow the NSA to obtain warrant of arrests at special FISA courts to map out electronic surveillance of any suspect even such suspect is not affiliated or connected to any terrorist group- this is one of the new rules that has been generating much controversies considering the fact that an individual may be arrested and charged for terrorism even if he or she is un-connected with any terrorist group.