During a hearing to review the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act, Congress was told by intelligence official Donald Kerr that, “…it is time people in the United States changed their definition of privacy. Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people’s private communications and financial information.” Right, because we all know what a great job businesses are doing keeping our data safe! It is unacceptable for an official to declare that our rights need to be usurped and then have us rely on businesses to keep our records safe; they’ve been failing to do that for years, why would there be any difference now? In fact, if Mr. Kerr’s plan went through, these companies would be bigger targets for exploitation as they’d hold a bigger payout for would be attackers. Come on, no more ‘give up your rights to survive’ rhetoric, we’ve had enough.  There’s more good coverage on this at Wired.

While much has been said of last week’s ruling, US News has a summary of many different outlets on the upcoming fallout for the Democrats. “With Congress out of town, media outlets continue to analyze the performance of the Democratic majority. Some media sources suggest last weekend’s passage of a wiretapping bill, opposed by the party’s liberal base, may prove politically troublesome for Democrats.” It’s true, they will be held accountable for this.

Two years ago, when a wiretapping proposal similar to the FISA expansion, California Senator Dianne Feinstein said that the proposal, “calls into question the integrity and credibility of our nation’s commitment to the rule of law.” Then last week, just days after stating, “There is a suspicion that the administration wants to move too boldly. And once you sacrifice rights, it’s hard to get those rights protected again“, she went and voted for the FISA expansion (S. 1927)! She’s not alone, 15 other Senate Democrats also voted to give the government even more power to wiretap. What am I missing here Dianne?

After the Democrats voted to expand the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) authority to spy on Americans without warrants, EFF has stepped up to show how to fight it. “Congress Caves on Warrantless Snooping — What Happened, and How To Fix It”

We also have to take the fight back to Congress, and for that we need your help. The most important check on the abuse of power ultimately isn’t Congress — it’s you. It’s up to you to hold your representatives accountable for allowing this egregious change or supporting it outright. Don’t let them think for a second that this went unnoticed: send them a letter here, call them to voice your opposition, and visit their home offices in your district during the August recess. Spread the word to your friends and family about what Congress has done and urge them to take action, too.

Fortunately, the law has a sunset date, and, more importantly, congressional leaders are already signaling that they want to revise the law before then. Restoring protections for your fundamental rights shouldn’t wait even a day. Neither should our efforts to make sure that happens — take action now.

It’s time to contact your representative and express your outrage, this must be rolled back.