points of action

Today congress is set to pass the FISA Amendments act of 2008 bill, which will make it legal to wiretap anyone in America without a warrant. This includes your e-mails &  telephone conversations (landlines and cell) but also includes other kinds of tapping. BoingBoing posted a great video called “What Every American Needs To Know (and do) About FISA Before Wed., July 9th” with Daniel Ellsberg. I recently had the good fortune to see Daniel Ellsberg speak at the Annual ALA conference in Anaheim at the Alexander Street Press Breakfast. Ellsberg worked for the Rand Corp, The Pentagon and then for The State Department and in 1971 he leaked The Pentagon Papers to the press to illustrate that the government was committing a massive fraud against the public by stating among many other things that victory in Vietnam was possible and eminent. He wrote a book about it that sounds pretty interesting.

It’s not to late to do something. Watch The video, then visit the EFF’s Action Page to get info on contacting your representative.

Links:

to one of the BoingBoing articles, and another & to an excellent Slate article, and to the bill.