Obama signs temporary extension of Patriot Act
The Associated Press
Friday, February 25, 2011; 5:21 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signed a three-month extension of key surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act.
The law extends two areas of the 2001 act. One provision allows law enforcement officials to set roving wiretaps to monitor multiple communication devices. The other allows them to ask a special court for access to business and library records that could be relevant to a terrorist threat.
Patriot Act extended for a year, but without changes
Updated: Friday, March 19th, 2010 | By Catharine Richert
President Barack Obama's promise to increase oversight of wiretapping practices has been put on hold after Congress passed a one-year extension of the Patriot Act that made no changes to the law.
In the fall of 2009, civil liberties groups were hopeful that two bills proposing substantial changes to the act would pass. One, by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, would have reauthorized three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act with new reporting requirements and oversight authority. It would also have phased out the government's use of national security letters, documents used by the government to demand businesses or organizations turn over information about individuals. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to reauthorize a provision letting the government maintain wiretaps even if a suspect changes phone numbers or providers. The bill would have allowed another provision to expire, canceling the government's power to track suspects that are not affiliated with any group or foreign country. The House bill also phased out the national letters program and modified the government's authority to conduct "sneak and peek" searches carried out in secret and requiring no prior notice.
But both those bills haven't gone further than their respective committees. Instead, Congress opted to pass a one-year extension of the expiring provisions, and civil liberties groups say the action precludes further work on the issue this year. As a result, we're moving this promise to Stalled.
Sources:
Congressional Quarterly, New Extension Likely for Key Patriot Act Provisions, by Keith Perine, Feb. 11, 2010 The American Civil Liberties Union, Breakdown of HR 3845, The USA Patriot Amendments Act of 2009, accessed March 16, 2010 Phone Interview, Michelle Richardson, legislative consultant, American Civil Liberties Union, March 15, 2010 The American Civil Liberties Union, Congress Drops the Ball on Upgrading Patriot Protections, Feb. 26, 2010
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y'all makein' it sound like he extended that shit for years. If anything this shows that hes slowly getting rid of it.
Everyone remember he's playing chess not checkers.
