And there’s no way they can be sure no matter what laws Congress passes. We have laws now, and the government is breaking them. There is no such thing as “adequate protection” any more. Not with “special” interests and rampant greed running theSen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Tuesday urged the United States to revamp its surveillance laws and practices, warning that the country will "live to regret it" if it fails to do so.
"If we do not seize this unique moment in our constitutional history to reform our surveillance laws and practices, we will all live to regret it," Wyden said during a keynote address on the National Security Agency's data collection programs hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
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Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned that people's smartphones can be used as a tracking device to monitor their whereabouts and activities. He argued that privacy protections need to be put in place so the government cannot engage in mobile phone tracking in the future.
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"Without adequate protections built into the law there’s no way that Americans can ever be sure that the government isn’t going to interpret its authorities more and more broadly, year after year, until the idea of a tele-screen monitoring your every move turns from dystopia to reality," Wyden added.
The Hill
Wyden, who was privy to a lot of what was going on, wasn’t bold enough to risk his neck like Edward Snowden and do anything but hint at overreach, so I don’t think anyone in Washington is going to be moved by Ron Wyden. But go ahead, big guy.
Database of gun owners? Well, now, maybe he’s hit the right note, there.Wyden claims "there is nothing in the Patriot Act that limits this sweeping bulk collection to phone records." He said the government could use its authority under the law to collect and store sensitive information such as medical records or credit card purchases, or "develop a database of gun owners or readers of books and magazines deemed subversive."
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