Obama against mass surveillance

US President Barack Obama signed a law on Tuesday reducing the powers of the US intelligence agency NSA, particularly its mass surveillance program, media report, as reported by the Patria News Agency.

Obama signed the law only a few hours after the Senate approved it by a 67 to 32 vote, and the reform had previously been adopted by the House of Representatives. This law amended the security policy introduced after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and abolished the mass surveillance practice revealed by the most famous American whistleblower, Edward Snowden, Reuters reports.

The reform, named the USA Freedom Act, aims to limit the program of collecting data from phone calls - time, duration, phone number - which was the most criticized surveillance method introduced under the Patriot Act.

The USA Freedom Act is a major victory for Obama, who welcomed the adoption of the reform, stating that the text protects both individual freedoms and national security.

"I am pleased that the Senate has finally passed the USA Freedom Act," Obama said on Twitter before signing the bill, AFP reports.

The new rules stipulate that data collection will be transferred to telecommunications companies, and authorities will only have access to it by court order.

In addition, the NSA will be empowered to find "lone wolves" and place them under surveillance.

The adoption of this law is the first major reform of US intelligence practices since Snowden presented secret documents to the public two years ago, revealing the existence of a large number of secret surveillance programs.