Bernie Sanders rails against the Patriot Act's 'Orwellian surveillance'

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 7 May 2015

In a Time op-ed, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) writes that he "voted against the Patriot Act every time" — and it still needs an overhaul.

Sanders' op-ed comes as a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the NSA's phone surveillance program is illegal, a decision Sanders praises. He explains that while the U.S. must "do everything we can" to prevent terrorist attacks, the country should do so "in a way that also protects the constitutional rights of the American people."

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Do we really want to live in a country where the NSA gathers data on virtually every single phone call in the United States — including as many as five billion cellphone records per day? I don’t. Do we really want our government to collect our emails, see our text messages, know everyone’s internet browsing history, monitor bank and credit card transactions, keep tabs on people’s social networks? I don't.Unfortunately, this sort of Orwellian surveillance, conducted under provisions of the Patriot Act, invades the privacy of millions of law-abiding Americans. [Time]

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.