U.S. Patriot Act Renewed

The anti-terrorism bill's wiretapping and business record provisions get another four-year extension.

While he was off in Europe proclaiming the G8's desire for freedom to sweep through the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. President Barack Obama quietly signed off on a four-year extension of controversial provisions in the Patriot Act. The law, first passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, requires renewal every four years to give police more freedom to use wiretaps and access business records – two aspects of the Patriot Act that have prompted many legislators and civil rights activists to believe it vastly oversteps the government's bounds. Both houses of Congress passed the bill, despite a dogged effort to force it to expire by Senator Rand Paul, before Obama signed off on the renewal from Paris.