While we try to keep our communities safe from COVID-19 and fight to get aid to those who are impacted, some insidious legislation is sneaking its way through Congress. It’s time to take a look at the PATRIOT Act.
The PATRIOT Act, which was originally passed as a response to 9/11, authorized mass surveillance on Americans. Federal agencies have used the authority granted by the PATRIOT Act to record Internet activity en masse. These agencies were able to gather data from individuals' internet use including browsing, search, and transaction history. Such data can be used to infer a person's political beliefs, medical circumstances, financial affairs and other sensitive information.
In 2015, Congress passed an update known as the USA Freedom Act, which ostensibly restricted bulk network surveillance but was still pretty permissive.
Several portions of the PATRIOT/Freedom Act have expired, and Congress is now trying to renew it, with provisions that would continue to allow federal agencies to harvest online data such as your browsing history, search history, and more. Senators Wyden and Daines attempted to amend the bill to prohibit this warrantless data harvesting without a warrant, but the bill passed the Senate without this amendment.
Representatives Lofgren and Davidson are trying to amend the House version of the bill to require a warrant for online surveillance. The vote is set for today, Wednesday, May 27. Indivisible SF is opposed to the unjust nature of the PATRIOT Act, which is why we have joined with Save Internet Privacy to support the Lofgren-Davidson amendment.
Call your Representative and tell them:
The Constitution’s 4th Amendment is clear: federal agencies must have a real warrant to obtain our Internet activity records. While I oppose the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act as a whole, I'm asking you to please follow Sen. Wyden's lead to improve the Lofgren-Davidson amendment and pass it, to protect my privacy and always require a warrant.
Get Ready for a Mass Digital Assembly on June 20
The global pandemic is exacerbating the already existing crisis of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and militarism. On June 20, the 140 million poor and low-income people across America will be heard!
In alliance with the Poor People’s Campaign and a large coalition of national organizations, ISF is joining the digital Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington. This is expected to be the largest digital and social media gathering of poor and low-income people, moral and religious leaders, advocates, and people of conscience in this nation’s history.
We are asking ISF members to participate in this mass digital mobilization for economic and political justice. For general information, see the Poor People’s Campaign website for the event.
Check out their digital toolkit to learn how to amplify the action. We’re calling on ISF members to volunteer to help build this event, to work with others to create digital action methods and tools, and to post ideas and suggestions on the Slack #allyship channel.
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ISF General Meeting: Sunday, June 7, 1–3 PM via Zoom. Register here to join our online meeting. We are working on more ways to stay in contact with you online!
Virtual Pints & Postcards: Sunday, June 7, 3–5 PM via Zoom. Join us in partnership with Vote Forward to write letters while chatting after our general meeting. Register here to get an invitation. For more info, see our webpage on the event.
Wednesday, May 27, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM: At Home & Together Phone Bank with Democracy Action SF. RSVP here to join this phone bank via Zoom.
Saturday, May 30, 1–4 PM: At Home & Together Phone Bank with Democracy Action SF. RSVP here to join this phone bank via Zoom.
Sunday, May 31, 12–2 PM: At Home & Together Phone Bank with Democracy Action SF. RSVP here to join this phone bank via Zoom.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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Get each week’s call scripts and events directly to your phone with Amplify, an app created by one of the members of Indivisible SF. To use the Amplify app:
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Download from the Android or iOS app store
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Open the app and tap 'create new account' to sign up
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Join the Indivisible SF team using the invite code 101-202-303
- Cheer someone on and/or take an action
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