Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden praised the end of the bulk collection of Americans' information under the Patriot Act during the legislative session Sunday. The U.S. Senate failed to approve a measure which would extend the ability for the National Security Agency to collect Americans' phone records and emails. Wyden also called for the Senate to pass the USA Freedom Act to enact additional reforms.
Wyden: "I believe that dragnet surveillance violates the rights of millions of our people every day. Vacuuming up the private phone records of millions of Americans with no connection to wrongdoing is simply a violation of their rights. And vacuuming up Americans' email records, that sure is a violation of Americans rights as well."
The Senate is looking at options for passing legislation that would restore certain parts of the Patriot Act later this week. According to a CNN/ORC poll released Monday, 61% of Americans said they approve of renewing the Patriot Act's provisions to allow for continued collection of data.
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