Patriot Act may have lost it's teeth, now that National Security Agency loses its authority to collect Americans' phone records in bulk, after an extraordinary weekend Senate session that failed to produce an 11th-hour deal to extend the fiercely contested program.
Intelligence officials say outcome amounts to a win for terrorists. But civil liberties groups say s an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans' privacy. The once-secret post 9/11 program was made public by Edward Snowden.
All this means that after midnight, Americans can feel free to talk without NSA tracking them, but is this a patriotic act and is it safer for US?
Senate Moves Toward Limiting N.S.A. Bulk Data Collection http://nyti.ms/1FVLNtO
Patriot Act provisions set to expire as Senate compromise comes late http://usat.ly/1HXJFUP
Senate moves ahead on House NSA bill, despite Paul objections http://cnn.it/1FVMpiY
NSA reform advances as Senate moves to vote on USA Freedom Act – live updates http://gu.com/p/49c6x/stw
Senate to let NSA spy program lapse, at least temporarily http://reut.rs/1I1SZ7k
CSPAN: http://www.c-span.org/video/?326227-1/us-senate-debate-nsa-surveillance
Some NSA surveillance powers likely to expire http://wpo.st/A1dJ0
USA Freedom Act vs. USA PATRIOT Act http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/usa-freedom-act-vs-usa-patriot-ac… via @POLITICO