Get FISA Right

Below is a current checklist of NSA-related legislation introduced in the wake of Edward Snowden’s summer revelations.

• Links like “H.R.####” for each bill lead to the “OpenCongress” summary page for that bill, where you can find the full text, sponsor list, and current status of the bill.
• Alternating gray and white zones divide the bills into five types: multiple, collection, transparency, secret law, and FISC court reform.
• Bills with an olive green or bright green bar are particularly good or excellent bills, in the estimation of key civil liberties advocacy groups; links are provided to their reviews.

Our distinction between “good” and “excellent” bills is subjective; it’s either about the scope of the bill or about its power to stop NSA abuses.  For example, MCCRC has joined the Center for Democracy and Technology’s “We Need To Know” coalition in endorsing Senator Franken’s “Surveillance Transparency Act of…

What:Stop Watching Us: A Rally Against Mass Surveillance
When: Sat., Oct. 26, 12–3 p.m.
Where:Capitol Reflecting Pool, Washington, D.C. (march from Columbus Circle, Union Station)
Who:You and thousands of others fighting to restore our privacy

On October 26, 2001, just under twelve years ago, a panicked Congress passed an ill-advised, hastily considered “USA PATRIOT” Act by lopsided margins — 357-66 in the House, 98-1 in the Senate.  As its many opponents outside the Capitol Building warned, the “PATRIOT” Act was anything but: it became a Congressional blank check to surveill and harass all too many Americans, and undermine the very freedoms we claim to value.

Twelve years later, the tide is turning — thanks to whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Thomas Tamm, Thomas Drake, and journalists like Glenn Greenwald.  Yes, the revelations of NSA’s dragnet surveillance, deception of Congress, and what amounts to sabotage

Saying “thank you” to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden never goes out of style — especially when you can make surveillance state bureaucrat heads explode by saying it on the side of a Metro bus. 🙂 * That seems to be the thinking over at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF), who are fundraising to do just that right here in our fair metropolitan area:

The elites in D.C. may not ride the bus, but they can’t avoid reading the bus!  We want the world to see that we, The People of the United States, support Edward Snowden, and oppose the creation of a surveillance state without our consent.

Let’s give them a hand, shall we? 

We assume some of your donation may also go towards the great work PCJF does year in and year out; late last year, for example, they obtained FOIA documents proving the FBI was…