NEW BILL
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Luna Introduces Bill to Repeal Patriot Act, Restore Privacy |
US Representative Anna Paulina Luna has introduced a bill, the American Privacy Restoration Act, that aims to repeal the Patriot Act, passed in 2001. The
Florida Republican believes that what has in the meantime become the
notorious post-9/11 legislation, has been abused by "rogue" intelligence
officers to carry out mass surveillance in unlawful ways. Announcing
the bill, Luna mentioned that the Patriot Act has over the last decades
been used to interfere in elections, violate innocent Americans'
privacy by spying on them, and even "settle personal scores." According
to the representative, the ability to misuse and abuse the Patriot Act
in such a way turned it into a tool for what is known as "the deep
state" - whereas her legislative proposal seeks to take away the ability
of these permanent power centers to violate the Fourth Amendment, that
should protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. Like
a number of other laws, in particular those supposed to regulate
intelligence and broader national security work, on paper, the Patriot
Act's condensed purpose is uncontroversial: to expand law enforcement
powers, so as to "enhance the federal government's efforts to detect and
deter acts of terrorism in the United States or against United States'
interests abroad." However,
on closer inspection - even before the law's subsequent slide into
controversy - it quickly became clear that the expanded powers were too
broad and went beyond surveillance itself, to allow for warrantless
searches in some cases, more "information sharing," as well as access to
business records. Critics
have been saying that since 2001, the Patriot Act has been turned
against Americans themselves, and used as an excuse to subject even
those not suspected of any wrongdoing to mass surveillance, all the
while sidestepping the necessary guardrails and oversight. Luna
believes this has produced "the most sophisticated, unaccountable
surveillance apparatus in the Western world." And she believes it is
necessary to act now to rectify this situation. "It's
past time to reign in our intelligence agencies and restore the right
to privacy. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is using 'security'
as an excuse to erode your freedom," the legislator is quoted as saying. One
of Luna's unlikely - for political and ideological reasons - allies is
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been pushing for
reforms of the Act, reminding of the fact that when it was first passed
in October 2001, many members of Congress admitted to not having read
the bill before voting for it. According
to the ACLU, there were "intimations from the Bush administration that
those who voted 'no' would be held responsible for further (terror)
attacks." |
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