Section 215 is likely to chill lawful dissent. If people think that their conversations, their emails, and their reading habits are being monitored, people will feel less comfortable saying what they think–especially if they disagree with government policies.

So, where are they now?

“The American citizenry has been giving up their rights over the last eleven years,” Tighe Barry of Code Pink told Press TV at the protest. “It’s a shame that someone like George W. Bush, who came into power, thought he could just tear up parts of our constitution.”

Congress passed a bill in February that extended three controversial provisions of the Patriot Act until May 27.

The three provisions allow authorities to conduct surveillance without identifying the person or location to be wiretapped, permits surveillance of “non-U.S.” persons who are not affiliated with a terrorist group, and allows law enforcement to gain access to “any tangible thing” during investigations.

“It creates a very ‘Big Brother’ atmosphere where the government can monitor everything,” Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said.

The protesters called for a repeal of the Patriot Act, claiming it gave the government too much power to conduct surveillance of Americans. Raw Story

“once upon a time, in a place far, far away, there was a thing called privacy.”