Sometimes ‘I told you so’ doesn’t do justice. A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about the June 1 expiration of surveillance aspects of the Patriot Act of 2001. That prediction has come true.
Because Washington couldn’t come up with a reform agreement, these surveillance powers expired at midnight Eastern Standard Time June 1, 2015. Even those who are pro NSA surveillance say there needs to be reform. Ever since Edward Snowden‘s exposure of bulk surveillance in 2013, we learned ?how the federal government can read every social media post, every email, every instant message, and how they can listen to every smartphone conversation. Many political leaders have called for a stop to this kid of surveillance. There’s hope for new legislation called the USA Freedom Act. This would ban the NSA from collecting bulk telephone conversations and restrict other areas of surveillance. But as for now, the Feds can’t use bulk telephone records, or business records relating to Internet use. This debate has turned Republican against Republican, even fellow Kentucky Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell. Senator McConnell is opposed to any surveillance reform. Senator Paul is a staunch opponent of NSA surveillance. He even believes this new USA Freedom Act doesn’t go far enough in fighting surveillance abuses. Rand Paul is running for US President in 2016 under the Republican ticket, but is popular among civil libertarians.
With Memorial Day vacation and June 1 shortly after, and politicians hardly agreeing on anything these days, I knew the old NSA surveillance wouldn’t be renewed. But I have hope for the USA Freedom Act. On one hand, it would ban unnecessary privacy abuses. On the other hand, this act will help keep us safe. Some say a resolution should happen by the end of this week. Do you think our elected officials will put differences aside and put our privacy and security first?