Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden on Tuesday said that surveillance programmes involving bulk collection of data in the US were not effective at preventing attacks, and must be reformed.
Snowden appeared before an Amnesty International audience in London via video link from Russia.
On Sunday the US Senate let the NSA’s bulk phone collections programme temporarily lapse.
However by Tuesday the Senate rejected changes to a House-passed bill remaking the disputed post-September 11 surveillance programme.
That cleared the way for the Senate to pass the legislation and send it directly to President Barack Obama for his signature.
Once Obama signs the legislation, the programme can be resumed, but it will have to undergo significant changes.
In six months the government will no longer be able to collect phone records in bulk, and instead phone companies will hang onto the records and the government will be able to search them with a warrant.
Two years ago, Snowden revealed details of the once-secret bulk collection programme that allowed the NSA to sweep up Americans’ phone records and comb through them for ties to international terrorists.
(With Input from AP)
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