Don't let Congress renew Section 702

From Fight For The Future:

Members of Congress are finally talking about ending the biggest mass surveillance law in the U.S. because—get this—they’re afraid that it could lead to compromising information about themselves being leaked.[1]

It’s ridiculous that that’s what it takes for them to care about upholding the Constitution, but this is a huge opportunity for us to beat back mass surveillance. As they go into negotiations this week and next, they need to hear from you.

Take action to stop Congress from renewing Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, one of the biggest mass surveillance law in the U.S.

Section 702 is at the core of the corrupt mass surveillance apparatus in the US. When it was passed, the government claimed it was for collecting information about terrorism suspects. Instead, it has been used to collect hundreds of millions of emails, phone calls, and text messages sent and received by ordinary people who aren’t suspected of anything.[2,3] Source Source

This is the law that lets the government collect your communications from companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple, and intercept private information straight from the cables and switches that make up the backbone of the Internet, without a warrant.[4]

The programs conducted under Section 702 are so broad that the NSA says they can't even count how many people are having their communications swept up. They’re so broad that even members of Congress feel violated by them.

It’s perfect timing for members of Congress to be thinking about their personal risks under mass surveillance because Section 702 is scheduled to sunset at the end of the year and congressional committees are working out a strategy to renew it as we speak.[5]

Both Democrats and Republicans have been raising concerns about having their information leaked, so there is real, bipartisan momentum building against 702. If we make our voices heard now, that could put them over the edge and solidify the sentiment that 702 has to go.

The New York Times recently reported that the committees deciding what to do about the expiration of Section 702 are close to a deal that would reauthorize it without fixing some of its biggest problems.[6] Congress needs to hear from us now, or we will miss this opportunity to score a victory that limits mass surveillance in a major way.

Private contractors like Booz Allen, Lockheed Martin, and Leidos have been getting rich from mass surveillance, and they are lobbying hard to make sure Section 702 is renewed. With these special interests involved, ending surveillance under Section 702 won’t be easy, even with members of Congress afraid of getting caught up in it.

This whole system of mass surveillance has been built and supported by corruption, and the only way to break the cycle of corruption is for regular people to speak out loudly. The intelligence contractors may have money and insider connections, but they don’t have the most important thing that politicians need—popular public support.

With Congress thinking about their own privacy under mass surveillance, this is the perfect moment for us to speak out and break the cycle of corruption.

Sign our petition to send Congress a message: Mass surveillance makes intelligence contractors rich without making us safer. It’s time to end this corruption.

Section 702 destroys your civil liberties

From Campaign For Liberty (Ron Paul):

Unless we act now, grassroots liberty activists across the country could suffer the same fate as General Michal Flynn, President Trump's former national security advisor.

As you may know, General Flynn was forced to resign because of leaked information. . .

Information obtained by warrantless wiretapping authorized by Section 702 of the FISA Act.

Section 702 is supposed to only apply to warrantless wiretapping of foreigners, but snoop state agents have used it to gather information on American citizens who have contact — or may have had contact — with foreign citizens.

It’s a definition so broad that it encompasses almost every American!

Section 702 was even used to justify the mass surveillance program exposed by Edward Snowden.

For years, critics of warrantless wiretapping and mass surveillance warned that these powers could — and would — be used to harass and silence critics of the government. . .

Now with the takedown of General Flynn, our worst fears have been confirmed.

Prominent politicians and mainstream media figures are celebrating the use of unconstitutional surveillance which forced a member of the President’s cabinet to resign.

And they are calling for the "Deep State” — the network of "intelligence” agencies, their defenders and allies on Capitol Hill, and the “mainstream” media — to step up their efforts to undermine the Trump Administration. . .

If the Deep State can successfully target a prominent public figure like General Flynn, then what is to stop them from targeting grassroots Americans working to restore the government to its constitutional limits, end our hyper-interventionist foreign policy, and strike directly at the heart of the welfare-warfare state and crony capitalism by auditing — then ending — the Federal Reserve?

We have already seen attempts at the state level to silence pro-liberty activists by imposing burdensome regulations on them.

And of course, we have also seen the IRS's targeting of pro-liberty groups under the prior administration, as well as the IRS’s ongoing efforts to force Campaign for Liberty to divulge the names of some of our most loyal supporters.

We have even seen efforts to silence groups like Campaign for Liberty by preventing us from talking about a politician’s record in the months before an election.

Considering these ongoing efforts to criminalize Campaign for Liberty, is it really so unbelievable that the Deep State will also work to quash the liberty movement?

. . . Especially if they can do so with the enthusiastic support of establishment politicians and mainstream and (neo) conservative media?

The threat that the Deep State will use Section 702 and other surveillance powers to intimidate the liberty movement makes it all the more imperative that we act and act NOW to force Congress to restore the Fourth Amendment.

The good news is that we have an opportunity to do just that. . .

You see, unless Congress acts, Section 702 expires this year, guaranteeing that Congress will debate the future of warrantless wiretapping and mass surveillance rule in the coming months.

Campaign for Liberty is already working to take advantage of this debate to not just kill Section 702, but also force Congress to further limit the ability of government bureaucrats to spy on us without a warrant.

Make no mistake: this will be a difficult battle.

Deep State allies on Capitol Hill and in the media, aided by lobbyists for the crony capitalists who profit by helping government take away your rights, will use every bit of their considerable influence to continue the ongoing assault on the Fourth Amendment and your liberties.

So is there any way I can count of you to help stop the Deep State by ending the surveillance state with a contribution of $15?

With the Flynn case demonstrating the real threat that warrantless wiretapping and mass surveillance poses to the liberty movement, we must not let the opportunity to kill laws like Section 702 slip through our hands.

The fallout from the use of information obtained via warrantless wiretapping to take down General Flynn may have gained us new allies in or fight to end unconstitutional surveillance, both in Congress and in the administration.

Campaign for Liberty must reach out to potential new allies and make sure pro-liberty Americans are ready to stand with you and me in this battle.

We must also target wavering Senators and Representatives with targeted emails and banner ads on popular websites like Google and Facebook.

Campaign for Liberty members like you have already defied conventional wisdom in battles against unconstitutional mass surveillance.

In 2015, my son, Senator Rand Paul, successfully, if only temporarily, blocked renewal of three of the worst PATRIOT Act provisions. . .

The only reason Rand was able to do this was because Campaign for Liberty members like you helped us turn up the heat on Senators by flooding their offices with phone calls, faxes, and emails. . . plus we were able to target key Senators with Banner Bombs in their states.

If we can duplicate this effort — but on a much larger scale — I am confident we can repeal Section 702 and other unconstitutional laws authoring government spying on innocent citizens.

So if $15 is too much, is there any way I can a can count on you for a special contribution of $10?