Intellectual Property Law

PATRIOT Act Debate Must Include Reform of Last Year's FISA Amendments Act

By tim

Today, the American Constitution Society's blog, ACSblog, was gracious enough to let EFF's Kevin Bankston guest blog about the current debate over renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act. Kevin took the opportunity to highlight the need for Congress to revisit the broad surveillance authority granted by last year's FISA Amendments Act (FAA) when it considers reforming the PATRIOT Act. Kevin argues that "from a civil liberties perspective, focusing on reforming the PATRIOT Act without also considering FAA reform is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." The entire blog post is here.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to consider PATRIOT renewal and reform Thursday. It's important to let your Senators know that you support both PATRIOT reform and FAA reform, including repeal of the immunity for telcos like AT&T that assisted in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. If you haven't already, please visit our action center and contact your Senators now!

Full post as published by Electronic Freedom Foundation - Deep Links on September 30, 2009 (boomark / email).