Patriot Act renewal gives privacy advocates an opening

More than three dozen privacy and civil rights groups are pushing Congress to consider changes to the 2001 anti-terrorism Patriot Act as lawmakers move to renew provisions that expire in December.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act is one of the provisions due to expire without action from Congress. It allows the FBI to ask for a court order to obtain “any tangible things,” including books, records, papers, and documents, related to a terrorism investigation, and it served as the foundation for the National Security Agency’s massive collection of telephone records for several years.