The Sun Must Set on Mass Surveillance

[Commentary] The Senate's pro-surveillance wing is scrambling to advance new legislation to preserve the National Security Agency's unchecked ability to spy on all of us. And they're in a rush. Authorization for the federal government's bulk collection of phone records is set to expire on June 1. Their efforts were scuttled on May 22 -- moments before members of Congress returned to their home states for the week-long Memorial Day recess -- as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) failed to muster the votes needed to continue the surveillance program under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. But surveillance senators aren't giving up.Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) delivered legislative proposals to extend bulk collection beyond June 1. In addition, the proposals further weaken recent efforts to make intelligence agencies more accountable to oversight.

Government intelligence agencies hold up Section 215 as one of a litany of laws that supposedly justify their ongoing abuse of our rights. But the language of the national security laws in question hasn't withstood scrutiny in the court of law or public opinion. And the public must speak out now to close this chapter on mass surveillance and restore everyone's rights to connect and communicate in private.

[Timothy Karr is Senior Director of Strategy at Free Press]