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February 25, 2010 Randy Obata
(808) 541-2570

Abercrombie Votes No on Extending

Controversial Patriot Act Privacy
Provisions
“They are unnecessary and they do nothing to make
us safer”
(WASHINGTON, DC) – In one of his last votes as a Member of Congress,
Representative Neil Abercrombie voted against reauthorizing several controversial
provisions of the USA Patriot Act that have been at the heart of claims of abuse and
invasion of privacy.

The legislation, HR 3961, would allow “roving John Doe wiretaps” which specify neither
an individual or a facility to be wiretapped; a so-called “Lone Wolf” provision which
permits secret intelligence surveillance of non-US individuals who are not affiliated with
a foreign organization — a provision that has never been used; and a section authorizing
the government to obtain “any tangible thing,” such as library or telephone records
relevant to a terrorism investigation, even if the “thing” is not shown to actually pertain to
a suspected terrorist or terrorist activities.

“These provisions have opened the door to the invasion of people’s privacy in the past.
They are unnecessary and they do nothing to make us safer,” said Abercrombie.
“Congress could have amended these sections to protect against abuse, but chose not to.”

Abercrombie has opposed some of the provisions of the Patriot Act since it became law,
pointing out that Republicans and Democrats alike have asked for changes to ensure that
such extraordinary government powers are directed only at terrorists or terrorist activities.
“Instead of carefully and thoughtfully strengthening laws that actually work to thwart
terrorists, we’re giving government a blank check to trample civil liberties,” Abercrombie
said.

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