Leave it to NPR to run interference for the government. The Freedom Act reformed the reauthorization of the Patriot act. At least on paper. NSA's PRISM project that Snowden revealed was authorized under section 702 of the 2008 FISA Amendment. This law has not been changed.
Also, Snowden reported that the data of Americans WAS being collected, and that was the thing he warned everyone about. Pretending there was no illegal/invasive activity on the NSA's part is revisionism at best.
[citation needed]
What you've repeated here is a conspiracy theory that became popular around the time of the Snowden leaks that has no supporting documentation. If it were true, Snowden would have been sure to find documentation for it to leak because it would have been the single biggest bombshell story in multinational government conspiracy of the century.
> Also, Snowden reported that the data of Americans WAS being collected, and that was the thing he warned everyone about
Phone metadata. That was shut down, and it had nothing to do with Section 702 or PRISM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosure...