John Oliver's brilliant interview of Edward Snowden on Last Week Tonight a couple days ago brought more publicity to the fact that it's two years since the Snowden revelations started coming out, and Congress and the President have done pretty much nothing. Though what Oliver did was awesome, he included no calls to action.
I'm a Kossack and the national chair of Restore The Fourth, an advocacy group opposing mass government surveillance. I'm well placed to correct the deficiency. There are three very specific things that would be immensely helpful for every progressive to do right now; follow me below the Fleur-de-Kos to find out what!
The first issue that Congress is confronting right now is that Section 215 of the "PATRIOT" Act is due to sunset on June 1. This provision has been used to authorize not only the dragnet of everybody's cell phone metadata, but also substantial information on Americans' Internet usage, and much else besides that the FBI hasn't even seen fit to tell us yet.
So here's step 1. EFF, one of our terrific partners in surveillance reform, has a great call tool to contact your legislators and ask them to allow Section 215 to sunset, or to implement substantial reforms to mass government surveillance.
The great thing about this is that all that is needed, in order for part of the mass surveillance system to die, is for Congress to do nothing. Congress is good at doing nothing, even in the face of desperate need. Without the affirmative agreement of 60 senators and 218 representatives by June 1, Section 215 is dead. We're expecting that House and Senate leadership will do their darndest to stampede a reauthorization through at the last minute; let's try and not let that happen.
Step 2 is, if possible, even more fun than Step 1. We've been working for months with a very broad coalition of advocacy organizations to introduce a real-deal surveillance reform bill to Congress - HR 1466, the Surveillance State Repeal Act. When it launched two weeks ago, it was greeted with enthusiasm here on DK, with no less a Kossack than the great OPOL enthusing about it in comments. We're working our legislators hard to get endorsements, and we'd love it if you could add your call to the mix. Here's a petition from CREDO to get you rolling.
The SSRA is the kind of bill we really need. Whether it passes in this Congress or not, it sets a marker for what surveillance reform looks like. It guides us back onto the path we left after the September 11 attacks. It repeals the "PATRIOT" and FISA Amendments Acts, requires warrants for surveillance under Executive Order 12333, and protects intelligence community whistleblowers (they have no protection right now).
Step 3 is where it gets personal. We need your help. We now have 23 chapters across the country, formed by dedicated volunteers working to subvert the surveillance state. If you have any time or talents to spare, please help us make a difference. As John Oliver shows, when people really understand what's happening, they want change; and with us, you can help make that happen.