BitChute is committed to facilitating and advancing, to the maximum extent possible, our users' exercise of their fundamental rights. As part of that effort, today we emailed U.S. users, notifying them of an impending threat to their Fourth Amendment rights:

Dear BitChute Community Member,

BitChute is more than just a tech company. We’re more than a platform. We are part of a movement for privacy and freedom of expression.

Unwavering commitment to the Bill of Rights is a cornerstone principle here. We don’t just provide a place where all can speak freely. When we see abuses, BitChute speaks up.

We wanted to make sure you were aware of major developments on Capitol Hill that threaten our Fourth Amendment freedoms.

Leadership in the House of Representatives just pushed through a reauthorization and expansion of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA is supposed to be strictly limited to what its name implies: gathering information on foreigners.

But our government uses FISA, specifically section 702 of the law, to vacuum up huge swaths of your personal information and save it in a database to use as they see fit. FISA has been abused by administrations of both parties to spy on political opponents, as well as thousands of innocent Americans, without a warrant. Per Reuters, “A U.S. court found that the FBI improperly searched for information in a U.S. database of foreign intelligence 278,000 times over several years, including on Americans suspected of crimes.” (emphasis added)

Of the reauthorization and expansion of this program just passed by the House, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement, “The House bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history. It allows the government to force any American who installs, maintains, or repairs anything that transmits or stores communications to spy on the government’s behalf. That means anyone with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a Wi-Fi router, or a phone.” Edward Snowden, who in 2013 exposed the NSA’s illegal mass surveillance program, said the bill, as amended by the House, “radically—and I repeat radically—expands the range of who the government can force to spy on their behalf.” He added, “It is unbelievably overbroad, and in my opinion no country that has something like this to enter into force can still be considered to be free.”

BitChute and other privacy advocates asked for a simple reform: if FISA was to be reauthorized, then any searches about American Citizens and other US Persons in the 702 database should require a warrant. While a warrant should be required even to collect the conversations of US Persons, much less store or search them, we believe this is a significant step towards restoring the protections for privacy enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Please check out this piece from our Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff, written to give likeminded liberty-lovers some intellectual ammunition in the debate:

“…nearly 11 years after Edward Snowden’s revelations of our government’s unconstitutional warrantless surveillance programs, many Americans are no longer subdued by the pablum that, if they have nothing to hide, they shouldn't care about invasions of their privacy. They realize something is very wrong with allowing the government to vacuum up our private communications and data and store them in vast databases, available to query at any time — all without probable cause or suspicion."

Read the rest here.

Last week a bi-partisan group of lawmakers – 86 Republicans and 126 Democrats – voted to add a warrant requirement for database searches, but the vote ended 212-212. Sadly, sources tell us that Leadership closed the vote early to ensure it failed.

This week we have one more opportunity to curb warrantless surveillance of Americans. Monday evening the House caved to Leadership pressure, voting against reconsidering FISA. House Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL-13), who had made the motion to reconsider, and sent a letter to all 435 of her colleagues urging them to vote NO on House Leadership’s motion to table hers, wrote: “The swamp won today. The intel bros, uniparty, and deep state won two more years of warrantless surveillance. Ty to all the reps regardless of party affiliation that took a stand for the 4th amendment.”

The ball is now in the Senate’s court. Call your Senator now and demand they protect your privacy and our Bill of Rights, by opposing any expansion of FISA, and any reauthorization of FISA that doesn’t include a warrant requirement.

Find your Senators’ phone numbers here and call now:

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Alternatively, you can call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, and an operator will connect you to your Senator’s office: (202) 224-3121.

Protecting our privacy takes diligence and coordination. That’s why we’re a community, and we are glad you are part of it. Thank you, please keep tuning in to BitChute, and spread the word!

In Liberty,
The BitChute Team