Privacy advocates enjoyed a little wordplay and hope Thursday night as they celebrated the likely expiration of key provisions of the controversial USA Patriot Act.
They called it a “sunset vigil,” both because it was held at sunset and because Section 215 of the Patriot Act—along with two less prominent provisions—will sunset, or expire, at midnight on June 1, unless the Senate passes a bill that the House already passed before leaving town.
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Section 215 is most famous as the authority that the National Security Agency (NSA) has used to collect bulk records of Americans’ phone calls. The bulk-records collection program was the first piece of the U.S. surveillance state exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s cache of leaked documents.
Whether Section 215 is renewed may end up being a moot point, as a federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that the bulk-records collection program was illegal. Anticipating that either Section 215 will sunset or a reform bill will ban the bulk collection, the Justice Department instructed the NSA to begin winding down the program on Friday.
The sunset vigils, organized by Internet-freedom groups like Fight For the Future and Free Press, appeared outside senators’ offices in numerous cities, including Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn; New York, N.Y.; and Washington, D.C.
#SunsetThePatriotAct vigil in #DC with an intergenerational and multiracial crowd #Fight215 #PatriotAct pic.twitter.com/leuoeO7eGc
— Shahid Buttar (@Sheeyahshee) May 21, 2015
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#SunsetThePatriotAct pic.twitter.com/JnPaWGKHeT
— Charlie Furman (@DigitalCharlie) May 22, 2015
Hey @SenWarren! Your constituents want their basic right to privacy! #SunsetThePatriotAct NOW! #Boston @masspirates pic.twitter.com/DWS5TH7RTR
— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) May 22, 2015
Beautiful photos from last night's #SunsetThePatriotAct vigils across the U.S. Please share! http://t.co/yVJtS1oSrG pic.twitter.com/FfgE5a76cd
— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) May 22, 2015
“The crowds that gathered at sunset today are only the beginning,” FFTF campaign director Evan Greer said in a press release. “It’s time we come together and let the sun go down on this dark age of government surveillance.”
Photo via Imgur/vanFFTF