Stop Patriot Act From Renewing
Jul 16
Posted: under Politics, Privacy.
Last Chance to Stop Renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act!
Congress will vote any day now on new legislation that would renew parts of the USA PATRIOT Act scheduled to expire or “sunset” at the end of the year, while possibly handing the FBI even more unchecked power to snoop on your mail and private records, including logs of your Internet activities.
PATRIOT’s notorious Section 215 allows intelligence investigators to demand private records about citizens who aren’t suspected of spying or terrorism, including medical, financial, and library records, while other parts of PATRIOT radically expanded the government’s power to subpoena records or conduct wiretaps to see what you’re doing online.
The current PATRIOT bills could make these and a host of other highly controversial provisions permanent. Some in the Senate want to go even further, and allow the FBI to secretly demand any and all types of records without a judge’s permission, using new do-it-yourself “administrative subpoenas.” Meanwhile, the sensible checks and balances proposed in the Security and Freedom Ensured Act (SAFE), an alternative PATRIOT reform bill, have yet to be seriously considered.
Don’t let Congress defy the bipartisan will of the hundreds of local communities that have passed resolutions opposing the PATRIOT Act. Contact your legislators today and tell them to vote against PATRIOT renewal and for PATRIOT reform!
If you’re unfamiliar with the PATRIOT Act, then I’d recommend you read up on it (The EFF also has a nice summary). Basically, it’s legislation that was passed after 9/11 that gave up some basic civil rights in exchange for security. It’s an idea that made some amount of sense at the time (though it wasn’t worthwhile if you ask me). The idea was of course to combat terrorism, but really the act can be (and is) applied to any crime (or rather, potential crime). It allows law enforcement to do things without getting a warrant first. This is terrible. The only protection we have against surveillance and searches is that a court must approve that there is just cause to do so before it can happen. When that is removed, so is our protection.
They could begin debating these bills as early as this coming Wednesday, so head on over to the EFF Action Center and you can send a letter to your legislators.
