Surprising but Symbolic Limitation on NSA Powers

American officials are trying to hit the National Security Agency in the wallet. In a vote of 293 to 123 during the night of June 19-20, the House of Representatives voted to pass an amendment that strongly and symbolically limits the NSA’s surveillance capabilities.

The amendment, included as part of a 2015 army finance bill, prohibits funding for — and thus, the use of — “backdoor searches,” NSA activities that lead to the capture and storage of U.S. citizens’ data.

The intelligence agency has used this type of surveillance daily since 9/11. Legally, the agency relies on judicial rulings from the end of the 2000s: In order to conduct surveillance on U.S. territory, the NSA must obtain an individual mandate for each target, but it can also justify its operations by requesting larger authorization, leading to the capture of U.S. citizen data.

PRISM, which gives the NSA privileged access to large Internet servers, and the Upstream family of programs, which primarily intercept data using submarine cables, are some of the programs relying on these judicial rulings.

Prohibition of “Backdoors”

More unexpectedly, the amendment also prohibits the NSA and the CIA from funding — and thus using — backdoors. These devices are hidden and inserted in various electronic devices, such as servers, telephones and computers, and allow spyware to intercept communications and take control of the devices.

The bill’s wording also covers one of the agency’s favorite tools, namely the intentional introduction of vulnerabilities into software programs: The documents Snowden released showed that the NSA had aggressively weakened the development of certain cryptographic standards in order to better get around them.

“We applaud the House for taking this important first step, and we look forward to other elected officials standing up for our right to privacy,” stated Mark Rumold of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an NGO defending online freedoms.

The amendment has little chance of becoming law in 2015; a similar provision must be passed in the other chamber, the Senate, and Barack Obama must not veto it in order for it to become law. But it is a symbolic measure and shows a genuine desire of some members of Congress to limit the NSA’s powers, about a year after the Snowden revelations began to be released.

Last year, there were not enough votes for a similar amendment to be adopted. Thursday’s vote also echoed the adoption several weeks ago of the U.S. Freedom Act, a law initially applauded by NSA detractors, but considerably watered down after its time in committee.