Political Quotes

“I rise in strong opposition to this FISA bill. And, to begin, there is a central question before the U.S. Senate, and that is: Who should be forced to help their government spy? The legislation coming from the other body gives the government unchecked authority to order Americans to spy on behalf of their government. This was slipped in, Mr. President, in the last minutes in the House of Representatives' bill, and this is the first time this language has ever been considered here in the U.S. Senate. Under current law--section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--the government can order the phone companies and email and internet service providers to hand over communications. This bill expands that existing power dramatically. It says: The government can force cooperation from ``any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.'' Now, the language I just read to the Senate means that, if you have access to any communications, the government can force you to help it spy. That means anybody with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a WiFi router, a phone, or a computer. So think for a moment about the millions of Americans who work in buildings and offices in which communications are stored or passed through. After all, every office building in America has data cables running through it.…”