Feingold cautioned us about how those provisions could be used/abused from day one. It was one of the reasons he voted against the Patriot Act. And he repeatedly brought up how it was being used in the years afterwards. Same with the ACLU.
This didn’t just come out of nowhere, and it wasn’t manufactured by either administration. People have been pointing out that that provision of the patriot act would allow for this kind of use since the law was first passed.
I think this sort of domestic surveillance would be illegal if we revoked or refused to renew the Patriot act and FISA expansions. And that making something legal or illegal matters. If you’re going to go into full-on helpless cynic mode, arguing that they’ll do it even if it’s made illegal, I’m not really sure what to say.
