President Barack Obama has renewed the key provisions of the Patriot Act, generating some controversy by authorizing the renewal from Europe with an auto-pen.
The law signed late Thursday was initially passed after the 9/11 attacks and authorizes law enforcement authorities to get court approval to obtain "roving wiretaps" on suspected foreign agents with multiple modes of communications, track non-American "lone wolves" suspected of terrorism, and obtain certain business records and even library records.
Source: Reuters