By John McCarthy

The US senate has damaged president Barack Obama’s attempt to end the NSA’s mass surveillance of telephone calls.

After a prolonged in-house debate the USA Freedom Act fell 60 votes short of progression, following the bill making its way through the House of Representatives with ease just last week.

Effectively, the bill would have ended the government’s mass collection of its citizens’ phone records – instead relying on telephone companies to gather and divulge material when required.

Critics of the bill expressed their unease however at placing the responsibility of surveillance in the hands of telecom firms.

Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, said the Read full story ›

Source: The Drum