House votes for PATRIOT Act renewal: don't let Senate make the same mistake
Electronic Frontier Foundation

"The House of Representatives has just passed a bill, H.R. 3199, that would renew all of the sections of the USA PATRIOT Act that were set to expire at the end of the year without including the checks and balances necessary to prevent abuse. Now the Senate could make the same mistake. The current Senate bill, S. 1389, contains new checks on two notorious PATRIOT provisions: Section 215 -- the “library records” provision -- and Section 505, which allows FBI-issued National Security Letters (NSLs) that a federal court has already found unconstitutional. But there’s no guarantee that these checks will survive debate on the floor. What’s worse, there’s no guarantee that the Senate won’t include additional language to expand PATRIOT even further. Don’t let Congress defy the bipartisan will of the hundreds of local communities that have passed resolutions opposing the PATRIOT Act. Contact your Senators today and tell them to vote against PATRIOT renewal and for PATRIOT reform!" (07/05)


http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=149