The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), together with 59 other privacy and civil liberties groups, recently sent a letter to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on Congress to evaluate the National Security Agency's (NSA) surveillance programs and risks to civil liberties. Based upon such a review, the coalition urges Congress to enact critical reforms to ensure that government surveillance programs include robust safeguards for constitutional rights.
Such reforms should include tightening the standards for collection and use of information, including communications metadata; increasing meaningful judicial authorisation and review of such programs; and limiting the secrecy of such programs.
The coalition sent the letter in advance of the Judiciary Committee's hearing on the NSA surveillance programs.
