John,

For years, intelligence agents and law enforcement officials have abused the PATRIOT Act to spy on political protesters,¹ journalists,² and hundreds of millions of ordinary Americans³ just like you and me.

Tell Congress to stop reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act, and protect us from government spying.

The US Justice Department claims that Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act keeps Americans safe from terrorist attacks. But the government’s own oversight board found that this infamous spying program failed to make “a concrete difference in the outcome” of any counterterrorism investigation.⁴ In other words, it was completely ineffective.

However, law enforcement officials have used Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act — as well as other surveillance laws — to justify spying on Black Lives Matter protesters,⁵ even going so far as to interrogate people about their political beliefs.⁶

Let’s put an end to invasive government surveillance. Right now, key members of Congress are debating reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act behind closed doors, so tell your lawmakers to oppose the PATRIOT Act today.

Sign the petition demanding Congress put an end to the PATRIOT Act once and for all.

Regards,

Dayton

Footnotes:

[1] The Hill

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/civil-rights/461822-fbi-must-come-clean-on-targeting-racial-justice-activists

[2] The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/when-will-the-nsa-stop-spying-on-the-communications-of-innocent-americans/389375/

[3] ACLU

https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/nsa-surveillance

[4] Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/independent-review-board-says-nsa-phone-data-program-is-illegal-and-should-end/2014/01/22/4cebd470-83dd-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html

[5] Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-used-spy-plane-to-monitor-black-lives-matter-protests-2020-6

[6] The Intercept

https://theintercept.com/2020/06/04/fbi-nypd-political-spying-antifa-protests/

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