John,
While the world is distracted by a global pandemic that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, some members of Congress are trying to bring the PATRIOT Act back to life. This has to stop. NOW.
Tell Congress to stop spying on Americans, and vote for crucial amendments to protect our civil liberties!
On March 15th, 2020, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act expired, ending a program that has been abused to illegally spy on Americans for decades.1 While Justice Department officials claim that Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act has been integral in preventing terrorist attacks, internal documents show the opposite. In fact, the government’s own oversight board failed to identify any instance of the program contributing to the discovery or disruption of any previously-unknown terrorist attack.2 Seriously. Not even one.
However, the PATRIOT Act has been extremely successful in allowing law enforcement and intelligence officials to spy on racial justice activists,3 journalists,4 and human rights groups.5
Bipartisan opposition to the PATRIOT Act is growing. Privacy advocates in Congress have introduced three new amendments meant to protect us all from dangerous government overreach in the event that the PATRIOT Act is reauthorized. We’d obviously prefer that this awful law stays in the ash bin of history. But it would be no small victory for us to pass meaningful reforms that will prevent law enforcement and intelligence officials from continuing their widespread abuse of our Constitutionally-protected freedoms.
Sign the petition to tell your lawmakers to stand up for civil liberties and vote for crucial amendments to the PATRIOT Act.
Regards,
Dayton
1. Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/yes-section-215-expired-now-what
2. Vox: https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explain
3. The Hill: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/civil-rights/461822-fbi-must-come-clean-on-targeting-racial-justice-activists
4. The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/when-will-the-nsa-stop-spying-on-the-communications-of-innocent-americans/389375/
5. USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/30/congress-faces-decision-whether-rein-controversial-spying-program/613337001/
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