UPDATE : The House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill unanimously, 30-0!. It still has to pass the full House, and then the Senate, so please still contact your legislators!
The Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act closes the legal loophole that allows data brokers to sell Americans’ personal information to law enforcement and intelligence agencies without any court oversight.
The House Judiciary Committee has a markup session on the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act tomorrow (July 19), and if all goes well, the committee will advance a (potentially-amended) version of the bill … a huge step forward! The bill has bipartisan support, but intelligence agencies and law enforcement don’t like it, and they have a lot of leverage in Congress.
So if you’re in the US, please contact your Congresspeople and ask them to support the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. Here’s three easy ways – pick whichever one works for you:
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On the web : Free Press has a page with a web form that makes it easy.
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Using SMS, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram : use https://resist.bot/ to send a message like Please co-sponsor and pass the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act to close the privacy loophole that lets government agencies purchase location-tracking data without a warrant .
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By phone Call the House switchboard at 202-225-3121. Tell them your name and address, and that you want to send a message to your Representatives to support HR 4639, the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, and close the privacy loophole that lets government agencies purchase location-tracking data without a warrant.
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We’ll see. Cynicism is certainly justified – it’s very hard to pass a good privacy bill, and last year even though everybody supported it, it died in committee. On the other hand, it really does have bipartisan support, and there Congress is deadlocked in so many areas that they have an incentive to pass something.
Also, people I’ve talked to at EFF, ACLU, and Free Press all think that grassroots activism can help make a difference, and that right now is a key time … so it’s worth a try.
Bipartisan public support.
We have no idea what their plans are behind closed doors, or how they intent to kill the bill while looking righteously angry about it
Never forget who these guys work for (not you)
No, bipartisan legislative support. It’s got bipartisan co-sponsorship both in the House (Warren Davidson is an R, Sara Jacobs is a D) and Senate (Rand Paul is an R, Ron Wyden is a D). And House Judiciary Committee just voted 30-0 to advance it.
Of course as you say we don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors, and there are also legislators in both parties who aren’ supportive, but there really is bipartisan support for this.