According to the AP, reporting at exactly midnight June 1, the sunset clause of sections 215 et al. has gone into effect, causing those sections to expire.
This link has the rest:
Phoenix666 writes:
The Senate failed to pass legislation late Sunday to extend three Patriot Act surveillance measures ahead of their midnight expiration. The National Security Agency's bulk telephone metadata collection program—first exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013—is the most high-profile of the three spy tools whose legal authorization expired.
[...] "Are we willing to trade liberty for security?" asked Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), perhaps the most vocal opponent of the legislation. Despite an apparent victory, Paul had no illusions that this fight for privacy would end after these specific extension talks. "The Patriot Act will expire tonight, but it will only be temporary," he added.
Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) said it was time to stand up to terrorists and make "sure that we're doing everything we can to protect Americans from threats of people and a lot of organizations that want to kill us all, that would like to see us—see our heads on the chopping block."
After news of the imminent expiration broke, the American Civil Liberties Union quickly weighed in. "Congress should take advantage of this sunset to pass far-reaching surveillance reform, instead of the weak bill currently under consideration," the group said.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Monday June 01 2015, @11:49PM
And don't discount the possibility of some very public arrest being made to ward off an imminent terrorist attack, or allowing one one to happen that they already were warned about, just to make a point.
Look back over the years, and each time there was talk about repeal, there is another useful idiot captured by the FBI or ATF with a car load of (inert) explosives (provided by the government).
Part of me doesn't want to believe the would actually let anybody die to prove a point. The harder they fight for total surveillance provisions the smaller that part gets. Pass the Tinfoil!
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.