奧巴馬簽署法案,聯邦機構不再蒐集電話記錄

U.S. President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill ending the government's massive collection of telephone call data intended to prevent terrorist attacks.

Mr. Obama said the new rules protect both civil liberties and national security.

Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the bill 67-32. The House of Representatives had previously approved it.

Under the new rules, U.S. telephone companies and not the super-secret National Security Agency will collect and hold on to the phone call records of American citizens. Federal investigators would then need a court order to examine those records if they suspect anyone of contacting known or suspected terrorists.

The government began keeping records of telephone numbers, but not the content of those calls, just after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Critics said the program was a government invasion of privacy because of the millions of Americans whose calls were scrutinized, but who had no connection to terrorism.

The government's authority to spy on phone calls expired this week. The new rules are a compromise even though lawmakers from both parties say the new system will be less secure and takes a major tool in fighting terrorism away from federal authorities.美國總統奧巴馬簽署了一項法案，就此結束了聯邦政府機構爲預防恐怖襲擊而大規模蒐集電話數據的做法。

奧巴馬說，新規定既保護公民自由，也保障國家安全。

星期二早些時候，美國國會參議院以67票對32票的表決結果批准了這項法案。此前衆議院已經批准了該法案。

依照新法案的規定，蒐集和保存美國公民的電話通話記錄由美國的電信公司負責，而高度機密的國家安全局不再擔任這項任務。聯邦調查人員如懷疑某人與已知或疑似恐怖分子進行接觸，必須得到法院命令，才能審查電話記錄。

紐約和華盛頓2011年9月11日遭受恐怖襲擊後，美國政府開始蒐集電話號碼、撥打日期和通話時長，但不包括通話內容。

批評人士說，大量蒐集與恐怖主義沒有關係的美國人的電話信息是侵犯隱私權。
美國政府監聽電話的授權於本週期滿失效。這項新法案是妥協的結果。一些民主黨和共和黨議員認爲，新規定的安全性較差，聯邦有關當局將失去一個應對恐怖主義的主要手段。