Do you personally know anyone who has been charged with a crime from information gathered under the Patriot Act? If so, did they commit a crime?
We all know someone who has been the target of hackers stealing credit card info. Most of us have been victims ourselves.
I support the USA Freedom Act as a replacement to the Patriot Act, BTW.
There’s also “chilling effects”.
A lot of people don’t say certain things on phone calls - harmless in fact, but easily misconstrued by those searching for keyword combinations.
“Do you personally know anyone who has been charged with a crime from information gathered under the Patriot Act? If so, did they commit a crime?”
Wrong question...
” The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
Today, you do not even know what is in the tens of thousands of pages of laws. As soon as you are deemed an enemy of those in power, your collected history can be searched to find out just how you have violated the laws - stretching back decades.