Archives for PATRIOT Act

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The great promise of possibilities offered by the web are increasingly constrained by governments, including our own. Congress is now considering several bills which have the potential to affect our use of the web – and beyond – in terms of privacy and civil liberties. Here’s where the Protecting Cyber Networks Act and renewal of Section 215 of the Patriot Act stand at the moment.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Section 215 of the Patriot Act will expire on June 1 unless it is renewed. In the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the historically unparalleled level of surveillance of Americans that this part of the Patriot Act has authorized, a lot of people don’t think it should be renewed, at least in its present form. Perhaps that is why Mitch McConnell quietly submitted, with no public announcement, a reauthorization bill that would extend the act as it is for five more years, and then invoked Senate rule 14 to bypass public committee hearings on the bill. Those who have an opinion on S.1035 might want to let their elected representatives know – and pronto!

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