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To me, the turning point was the Patriot Act of the early 2000's. Everything we see today is downstream from that.

It's just a temporary measure, and to make sure/put peoples' minds at ease it has a sunset date of 2005 written into it.

even if they rescinded it now it wouldn't change anything with the present administration

Agreed. And if there is any doubt, look no further than the Snowden docs.