Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders: It’s Time To End Orwellian Surveillance of Every American
I voted against the Patriot Act every time, and it still needs major reform.
I welcome a federal appeals court ruling that the National Security Agency does not have the legal authority to collect and store data on all U.S. telephone calls. Now Congress should rewrite the expiring eavesdropping provision in the so-called USA Patriot Act and include strong new limits to protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people.
Let me be clear: We must do everything we can to protect our country from the serious potential of another terrorist attack. We can and must do so, however, in a way that also protects the constitutional rights of the American people and maintains our free society.
Do we really want to live in a country where the NSA gathers data on virtually every single phone call in the United Statesincluding as many as 5 billion cellphone records per day? I dont. Do we really want our government to collect our emails, see our text messages, know everyones Internet browsing history, monitor bank and credit card transactions, keep tabs on peoples social networks? I dont.
Unfortunately, this sort of Orwellian surveillance, conducted under provisions of the Patriot Act, invades the privacy of millions of law-abiding Americans.
The surveillance law originally was passed by Congress in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I voted against it. I voted against reauthorizing the law in 2005 when I was still in the House and voted no again in 2011 in the Senate when Congress passed the most-recent four-year extension of the law. I believed then and am even more convinced today that the law gave the government far too much power to spy on Americans and that it provided too little oversight or disclosure.
More: http://time.com/3850839/bernie-sanders-usa-patriot-act/
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)They want to keep us under surveillance for ulterior motives. The ulterior motives are most likely in an effort to maintain or increase MIC and corporate control over our lives.
Even if I am wrong and their motive are pure (they are not) a bit of terrorism isn't worth sacrificing every tiny bit of privacy.
That is what I have to say. Don't like it? Tough shit.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)He stands for restoring our democratic system and our Constitution.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)people?
In light of the recent court ruling stating that what they are doing is illegal, has she made any statement regarding the issue?
And yet another reason to support Bernie Sanders for POTUS.