Be Aware! If you think the government is not spying on you then continue reading. On October 26,
2001 the PATRIOT Act became effective. This is shorthand for Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. Sounds great
that our government is trying to protect us, until we learn who they are really using this on. The reason
Congress (Legislative Branch) signed this and the President (Executive Branch) signed it into law was
after the September 11th attacks. This amended and enacted many things, but we bring to your
attention the amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA"), which expanded the
government's authority to investigate potential terror threats. Specifically, section 215 of the USA
PATRIOT Act [pub. l. No. 107-56, 115 Stat 272 (2001)(codified at 50 U.S.C.S. section 1861)] authorized
judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ("FISC") to order the production of any tangible
things, including books, records, papers, documents, and items, if certain statutory requirements are
met. However, they are searching citizens information with no ties to national security or terrorism,
quite possibly even you.
Two United States Senators (Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Senator Mark Udall of Colorado)
stated publicly that the Executive Branch misled Congress and the American Public about its broad
interpretation of section 215 [See 157 Cong. Rec. S3386 (daily ed., May 26, 2011)(Statement of Senator
Wyden)("Many members of Congress have no idea how the law is being secretly interpreted by the
Executive branch"); See Also 157 Cong. Rec. S3389 (Daily ed., May 26, 2011)(Statement of Senator
Udall)("What most people - including many members of Congress - believe the PATRIOT Act allows the
government to do. . . and what government officials privately believe the PATRIOT Act allows them to do
are two different things.")
Simply put, the government has been doing mass surveillance of American Citizens, Organizations,
and Businesses. All they have to claim is National Security. The government declassified a court order
from October 2018. United States District Court Judge James E. Boasberg noted how the FBI (Executive
Branch) has been performing fishing expeditions through American's personal emails, online messages,
and other forms of searches. The court noted the FBI's misuse in an 138 page order, which includes
(non-exhaustive list): (1) that an FBI contract linguist conducted searches on himself, other FBI
employees, and relatives; (2) that the FBI regularly uses this massive database to investigate people they
considered "potential witnesses" who were not a suspect or listed as a national security concern; and (3)
On December 1, 2017, FBI Agents conducted 6,800 searches using social security numbers. This was just
on one day.
In May of 2020, Senator Wyden co-sponsored an amendment to the PATRIOT Act called "The Wyden-
Daines Privacy Amendment," which would ban the government from using the PATRIOT Act to collect
internet data without a warrant. Be aware, become active, know your rights.
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