The U.S. government used a provision of the Patriot Act to collect logs of visitors to certain websites, The New York Times reports. Enacted after 9/11, Section 215 of the Patriot Act has since lapsed, but it grants authorities—in this case, the FBI—access to a private business’ records if a court deems it’s in the interests of national security. The disclosure comes in a letter from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who initially told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) that Section 215 was not used to collect such records before later admitting it was, according to the Times. Section 215 was also the provision of the Patriot Act that allowed the National Security Agency to collect bulk telephone records, as revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013.
