Technology trade groups — including TechNet, the Internet Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association — have joined the Reform Government Surveillance group in support of the USA FREEDOM Act. The bill intends to limit federal government bulk surveillance programs in an effort to protect privacy while still addressing national security. The consortium supports more transparency and a change to the collection of bulk data.

A vote in Congress is expected this week.

According to a letter submitted by the consortium: “The USA FREEDOM Act as introduced in the House and Senate on April 28th offers an effective balance that both protects privacy and provides the necessary tools for national security, and we congratulate those who participated in the bipartisan, bicameral effort that produced the legislative text.”

“Critically, the bill ends the indiscriminate collection of bulk data, avoids data retention mandates, and creates a strong transparency framework for both government and private companies to report national security requests,” notes the letter.

“Finding a working compromise between a government that has a proven thirst for ever-increasing quantities of data of and on both domestic, and foreign individuals, and corporations focused on selling cloud-based products to extra-United States entities hasn’t been easy,” reports TechCrunch. In the wake of the revelations kicked off by the controversial Edward Snowden leaks, Congress has tried, and failed, to reform the NSA.”