All Americans should support proposed privacy bill


The aftermath of 9/11 ushered in a new era of warrantless mass surveillance in the United States. Now, a proposed bill with broad bipartisan support hopes to change that. The Government Surveillance Reform Act (GSRA) seeks to restrict U.S. government agencies from exploiting loopholes and bulk purchasing sensitive personal data on American citizens.

Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence encourages all Americans to support the bill regardless of their political opinions. She reminds us that the GSRA has broad bipartisan support and concludes that this is our best opportunity to regulate government surveillance.

The GSRA also would prohibit agencies from accessing and buying databases of vast amounts of highly sensitive information on Americans. You know, because capitalism is king and everything’s for sale, this data broker business has been going on behind closed doors for decades now, giving law enforcement a workaround to otherwise warrant-requisite searches. Another pivotal part of GSRA is a provision that would restrict law enforcement’s ability to capture location information from cell phones, car computers and other digital signals without a warrant.

None of these proposed changes are wild. Perhaps that’s why both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate can get behind it. But now we must as citizens do the same by contacting our representatives, demanding they support the GSRA.

FISA was good for where we were back in 1978, but we need legislation that aligns with the times and the government level of abuses. Because no matter how many decades pass, protecting privacy rights never goes out of style.