Here's How to Help Deep-Six Section 215 of the Patriot Act

Flickr / Ashleigh Nushawg (CC-BY)

It’s not just Republican Sen. Rand Paul who doesn’t want Congress to allow the Patriot Act’s Section 215 — which has enabled the U.S. government to spy on residents on an unprecedented scale in recent years — to be renewed before its scheduled expiration on June 1.

Maybe you, esteemed reader, are another person hoping to see the sunset of Section 215.

If so, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has put together a handy how-to for concerned citizens to encourage their elected representatives to curb the NSA’s surveillance powers:

Senator McConnell is forcing the Senate to reconvene on Sunday, May 31, mere hours before Section 215 expires. Even though leadership in the House of Representatives has said that the House would reject short-term reauthorization, he’s attempting to bully the Senate into a last minute extension of the program.

Fortunately, we’ve got four days to make sure that those 54 Senators don’t change their minds. We’ve got four days to remind the House that no reauthorization is acceptable, no matter how short. We’ve got four days to ensure that when Section 215 of the Patriot Act dies at midnight on June 1st, it’s dead for good.

Click this link to follow the EFF’s lead.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson

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