9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Our main story tonight

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is government surveillance.

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And I realize most people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
would rather have a conversation

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about literally any other topic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Including: 'Is my smartphone

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
giving me cancer?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To which the answer is: probably.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or: Do goldfish suffer from depression?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To which the answer is:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes, but very briefly.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But the fact is, it is vital that we

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have a discussion about this now.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because an important date is just around the corner.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"One big day to circle on the calendar,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when it comes to a very controversial subject.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The re-authorization of the Patriot Act,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and all of the controversial

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
provisions therein.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
June 1 they've got to come to an agreement

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to re-authorize or curttail those programs.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes. Some controversial provisions within

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the Patriot Act are to expire on June 1.

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So circle that date

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on your calendars, everyone.

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And while you're at it:

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Circle June 2 as well.

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Because that's Justin Long's birthday.

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You all forgot last year...

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and he f*cking noticed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, over the last couple of years,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you've probably heard a lot about

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
strange-sounding programs. Such as:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
X-Keyscore, Muscular, Prism, and Mystic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Which are, coincidentally, also the names

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of some of Florida's least popular

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
stripclubs.

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"Welcome to X-Keyscore!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Our dancers are fully un-redacted

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and Tuesday is wing-night!"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But if you don't mind, I would like to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
refresh your memory over some of this.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And let's start our focussing on the most

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
controversial portion of the Patriot Act,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that is up for renewal. Section 215.

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Which, I'm aware, sounds like the name

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of an Eastern European boy-band.

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"We are Section 215.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Prepare to have your hearts...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
throbbed."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's the cute one, the bad-boy,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the one who strangled a potato-farmer,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the one without an eye-deficiency.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They're incredible.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But the contentst of the real Section 215

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is actually even more sinister.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's called Section 215.

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Nicknamed: the library records provision.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Which allows the Government to require

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
businesses to hand over records of any

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"any tangible things"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
including: books, records, documents,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and other items.

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If that sounds broad, that's because

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it was very much written that way.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Section 215 says the Government can ask

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for "any tangible things" so long as it's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"for an investigation to protect

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
against international terrorism".

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Which is basically a blank cheque.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's letting a teenager borrow the car,

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under the strict condition that they

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
only use it for 'car-related activities'.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Okay, mom and dad, I'm gonna use this

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for a hand-job in the Wendy's parking lot,

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but that is car-related,

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so I think I'm covered."

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Section 215 is overseen

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by a secret intelligence-court,

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known as the Pfizer-court.

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And they've interpreted it to mean

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the Government could basically

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
collect and store phone-records for

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
every American.

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The vast majority of whom, of course, have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
no connection to terrorism.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Unless, Aunt Cheryl has been greatly

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mis-characterized the activities

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of her needle-point club.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"It's a sleeper-cell!

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Isn't is, Aunt Cheryl?"

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"You are hanged for this, Aungt Cheryl.

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You're a traiter and a terrible aunt.

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Not in that order."

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Now, the Government will point out

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that under 215, they hold phone-records,

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and not the calls themselves.

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What the intelligence-community is doing,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is looking at phone-numbers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and durations of calls,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they are not looking at peoples names,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they are not looking at content.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes, but that's not entirely reassuring.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because you can extrapolate a lot

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from that information.

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If they knew that you'd called your ex

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
12 times last night, between 1 and 4 AM,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for a duration of 15 minutes each time,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they can be fairly sure that you've left

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
some pretty pathetic voice-mails.

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"I don't care whose monitoring this call,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Vicky, we should be together!

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Pick up the phone, dammit!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm a human being, not an animal!"

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Now, the Patriot-act was written,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
just after 9-11.

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And for years,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it was extended and re-authorized

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with barely a passing thought.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In fact, it became so routine,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that when it was extended in 2011,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
one newscaster just tacked it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
onto the end of a report

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about a Presidential trip abroad.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Chip Reemes. CBS-news is travelling

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with the President in Dovell, France.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Also in France, by the way,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
President Obama signed in

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the law 4- year extension

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the terrorism fighting Patriot-Act.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Also in France, by the way?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
By the way?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He threw that in,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like a mother telling her young daughter

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that her childhood pet just died.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Oh, nice talking to you, sweety.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Also, by the way, Mr. Peppers is dead,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
see you at Christmas." BANG

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But all of that,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was before the public was made aware

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of what the Government's capabilities

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
actually were.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
'Cause that all ended in June of 2013.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden has just

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
taken responsibility for one of the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
biggest Government leaks in US history.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We learned that the Government has the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
capacity to track virtually every American

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
phone-call, and to scoop up

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
impossibly vast quantities of data

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
across the Internet.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Revelations that the NSA eavesdropped

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on world leaders.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Have you've ever been to the Bahamas,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the NSA could've recorded your phone-calls

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and stored them up to a month.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
All that information was exposed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by Edward Snowden.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it is still kind of incredible,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that a 29-year old contractor,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was able to steal top-secret documents

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from an organization

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that LITERALLY has the word 'security'

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in it's name.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Clearly, that was not great for them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because the only place where it should

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
be that easy for employees in their 20-ies

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to steal, is a Lids store.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Dude, you sure we should take this?"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Relax, dude, it's a Miami Marlins-cap,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we're not exactly selling

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Fabergé eggs here."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It is still unclear,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
exactly how many documents

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden stole.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Although he is consistently trying

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to re-assure people that he put them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in good hands.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Honestly, I don't want to be the person

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
making the decisions about what should

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
be public and what shouldn't.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Which is why I, rather than publishing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
these on my own or putting them openly,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm putting them through journalists.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well, that sounds great.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But of course it's not a fail-safe plan.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As was proven when the New York Times

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
published this slide,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but did such a sloppy job of blocking out

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
redacted information, that some people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
were able to read the information behind

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that black bar,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which concerned how the US was monitoring

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Al-Qaida in Mosul,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a group now known as ISIS.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So essentially,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a national security secret was leaked,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because no-one at the Times knows

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
how to use Microsoft Paint.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And look, you can think

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that Snowden did the wrong thing, or

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
did it in the wrong way.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But the fact it,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we have this information now,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and we no longer get the luxury

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of pleading ignorance.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's like you can't go to Sea World and

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
pretend Sha-Mu's happy anymore.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When we now know,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
at least have the water in her tank

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is whale-tears.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We know that now.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You can't un-know that information.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So you have to bear that in mind.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But here's the thing:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's now 2 years later,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it seems like we've kind of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
forgotten to have a debate

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
over the content of what Snowden leaked.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A recent Pew-report found that nearly

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
half of Americans say they're

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
'not very concerned', of 'not at all

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
concerned' about Government surveillance.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Which is fine.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If that's an informed opinion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But I'm not sure that it is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Because we actually sent a camera-crew

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to Times Square to ask some random

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
passers by who Edward Snowden was,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and what he did.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And there are the responses that we got.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I have no idea who Edward Snowden is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Have no idea who Edward Snowden is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I've heard the name, I just can't picutre

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
right now exactly what it is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
No. I do not.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Just for the record, that wasn't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
cherry picking.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That was entirely reflective of everyone

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we spoke to.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Although, to be fair, some people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
did remember his name,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they just couldn't remember why.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He sold some information to people.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He revealed some information

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that shouldn't have been revealed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think from what I remember,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is that the information that he shared

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was detrimental to our military secrets?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And keeping our soldiers

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and our country safe?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He leaked documents what the Army's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
operations in Iraq.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden revealed a bunch

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of secrets, I guess, or information

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
into Wiki, Wikileaks?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden leaked...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
he's in charge of Wikileaks?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden revealed a lot of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
documents through Wikileaks...?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Okay, so here's the thing:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Edward Snowden is NOT the Wikileaks guy.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Wikileaks guy is Julian Assange.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And you do not want to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
be confused by him.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Partly because he was far less careful

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than Snowden with what he released,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and how.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And partly because he resembles

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a sandwich-bag full of biscuits while

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
wearing a Stevie Knicks-wig.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And that is, that is ciritical.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Julian Assange is not a like-able man.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Even Benedict Cumberbatch could not

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
make him like-able.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He's un-Cumberbatch-able.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That was supposed to be

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
physically impossible.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't blame people for being confused.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We've been looking at this story

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the last 2 weeks,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it is hard to get your head around.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Not just because there are so many

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
complicated programs to keep track of,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but also because

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there are no easy answers here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We all naturally want perfect privacy,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and perfect safety.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But those 2 things cannot coexist.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's like how you can't have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a badass pet falcon...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and an adorable pet vole named Herbert.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Either you have to lose one of them,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which obviously you don't want to do.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or you have to accept some reasonable

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
restrictions on both of them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now to be fair, the NSA will argue

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that just because they can do something

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
doesn't mean they do do it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And, that there are restrictions on their

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
operations, such as the Pfizer-court,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which, must approve requests for

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
foreign surveillance.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In 34 years, that court has approved

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
some 35000 applications,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and only rejected 12.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yes. Much like Robert Durst's second wife.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Pfizer-court is alarmingly accepting.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Listen, Robert, I'm not gonna

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
ask you too many questions.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm just gonna give you the benefit of the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
doubts that you clearly don't deserve."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
At least tell him to blink and burp less.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The burping might be the most troubling

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
thing about that show.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, so maybe there's time for us to talk.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
About where the limits should be.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And the best place to start would be

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Section 215.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Not just because it's the easiest one

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to understand,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but there is wide-spread agreement

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it needs to be reformed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
From the President, to Ted Cruz,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to both the ACLU and the NRA,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to even the guy who wrote the thing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the first place.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was the principal author

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the Patriot Act.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I can say that without qualification

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Congress never did intend to allow

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bulk-collections when it passed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Section 215.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And no fair reading of the text would

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
allow for this program.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Think about that.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He was the author.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's the