Get FISA Right

On Saturday, December 7, 2013, two carloads of activists drove to the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade to demonstrate against the U.S. surveillance state.

They unfurled banners over US-295 with a simple message:

Save America – Close the NSA.

[videography, sound by N. van der Sluys, T. Nephew; for a sharper image while playing
the videos, click the settings “gear” icon (lower right menu) and select 720p HD]

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The action, organized by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee with activists from Code Pink, Restore the Fourth, and the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition, helps kick off similar protests around the country leading up to the Bill of Rights Day on December 15th.

On a beautiful fall afternoon, demonstrators from around the country marched to within shouting distance of the Capitol to demand that the U.S. government “Stop Watching Us.”

Many MCCRC activists, supporters, and friends were there, too, of course, and several provided some great answers to the question what should come next after the rally.  As the march began, we were also fortunate to talk briefly with Naomi Wolf and get her response as well.

Below is a playlist leading with a video of those responses; the background also gives a sense of the high energy and good spirits of a well-organized, well-attended march and rally.

[click the “PLAYLIST” button to choose other videos in this playlist; for sharper video, click the ‘gear’ icon after starting the video, and select the “HD” option]

Rallygoers marched from Columbus Circle in front of Union Station, to the Capitol Reflecting Pool, following a short…

The revelations by Edward Snowden have stunned the public — and they’ve even stunned Congress, so that a raft of bills have been sponsored addressing various aspects of the NSA scandal.

We’ve identified some of the best ones below — and link them to POPVOX email tools you can use to send letters of support (or opposition) to your Representative and Senators:

• S.1551, Intelligence Oversight and Surveillance Reform Act (Wyden)
• H.R.2818, Surveillance State Repeal Act (Holt)
• S.1452, Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013 (Franken)
• H.R.3035, Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013 (Lofgren)
• H.R.3228, FISA Court Reform Act of 2013 (Van Hollen)

While we give our “elevator pitch” for the bills at the links above, you can also learn more about any of these bills at our “NSA legislative overview” post (updated frequently), including the bill’s language and legislative status, its main features, and who likes the bill and why.

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…