DownsizeDC.org is one of 54 organizations who just sent the following letter to Congressonal leadership opposing Sen. Dianne Feinstein's phony “FISA Improvements Act.” Here it is:
The Honorable Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
S-221, The US Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker of the House
H-232, The US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Senate Minority Leader
S-230, The US Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi House
Minority Leader
H-204, The US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Members of Congress,
As civil liberties groups and other organizations advancing the public interest, we write this letter today to strongly urge you to oppose S. 1631, the FISA Improvements Act. The FISA Improvements Act does not offer real reform to stop the NSA’s mass collection of our communications and communications records. Instead, S. 1631 seeks to entrench some of the worst forms of NSA surveillance into US law and to extend the NSA surveillance programs in unprecedented ways.
If the FISA Improvements Act were to pass, the NSA would continue to collect telephone records of hundreds of millions of Americans not suspected of any crime. This is a violation of Americans’ privacy and Constitutional rights. Multiple polls, including a September 2013 Associated Press poll, consistently show a strong majority of the American people opposing such programs.
Furthermore, the bill seeks to permit the NSA to restart the bulk collection of Internet communication records—an extremely invasive, secret program the government attempted under dubious legal ground but abandoned because it wasn't effective.
The NSA mass surveillance programs already sweep up data about millions of people daily. This shadow of surveillance chills freedom of speech, undermines confidence in US Internet companies, and runs afoul of the Constitution.
Please champion real reform to end these programs and oppose S. 1631, which would codify and expand them.
Sincerely,
Access
Advocacy for Principled Action in Government
AIDS Policy Project
American Civil Liberties Union
American Library Association
Amicus
Arab American Institute
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School
Campaign for Liberty
Center for Democracy and Technology
Center for Rights
Charity & Security Network
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
The Constitution Project
Council on American-Islamic Relations
CREDO Mobile
Cyber Privacy Project
Defending Dissent Foundation
Demand Progress
DownsizeDC.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
F2C: Freedom to Connect
Fight for the Future
Firedoglake
Floor64
Free Press Action Fund
Free Software Foundation
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Government Accountability Project
Greenpeace USA
Human Rights Watch
InFo – The Foundation for Innovation and Internet Freedom
Liberty Coalition
Media Alliance
Media Mobilizing Project
Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Coalition Against Censorship
New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute
OpenMedia International
OpenTheGovernment.org
Participatory Politics Foundation
PEN American Center
PolitiHacks
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Project On Government Oversight
Public Knowledge
reddit
RootsAction.org
TechFreedom
The Rutherford Institute
ThoughtWorks
cc: Members of the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees