Four years after the passage of the USA FREEDOM Act, Section 215 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and its related “lone wolf” and “roving wiretap” provisions are back up for reauthorization. Section 215 is best known for being the portion of law used to justify the dragnet, warrantless mass collection of tens of millions of Americans’ phone call data, as revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden. Although the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 did make some substantial advances in curbing warrantless mass surveillance of Americans, disclosures over the intervening four years have borne out concerns that it was an incomplete reform.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to oppose the Corporate Transparency Act, H.R. 2513. Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the Corporate Transparency Act is framed as legislation that would crack down on fraudulent shell companies and money laundering, but the bill would create five new federal crimes for paperwork violations and may have long-term privacy implications.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators and urge them to cosponsor the Ending Mass Collection of Americans’ Phone Records Act, H.R. 1942 and S. 936. Introduced by Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the Ending Mass Collection of Americans’ Phone Records Act would end the National Security Agency’s controversial call detail records program.

WASHINGTON, DC - FreedomWorks applauds the Supreme Court decision today in Carpenter v. United States, which determined that the federal government cannot retrace the location of a person’s cell phone without a warrant. The ruling is a step forward in defense of Americans’ civil liberties.