Defense of Democracies is a non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 created in February 2008 to lobby the U.S. House of Representatives to approve the updated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act passed by the U.S. Senate. The organization’s has spent over US$3 million on television and radio ad campaign to targeted members of Congress in 16 U.S. congressional districts and has run ads on cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 nationwide.

Background

The bill would extend the Protect America Act of 2007

Protect America Act of 2007

The Protect America Act of 2007 , , is a controversial amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that was signed into law on August 5, 2007. It removed the warrant requirement for government surveillance of foreign intelligence targets "reasonably believed" to be outside of the...

 and make it easier for the government to wiretap Americans. It also would give retroactive legal immunity to U.S. telecom companies that cooperated with U.S. President George Walker Bush's secret warrantless wiretapping program

NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

The NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States during the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency as part of the war on terror...

 which was enacted prior to 9/11.

Donors

Organized under section 501(c)(4) of the U.S. tax code, the new group is not required to publicly disclose its donors, and it has no plans to do so.

Targets

Targets of the ads include Democratic Representatives Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand is an attorney and the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party...

 and Michael Arcuri of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Tim Mahoney

Tim Mahoney

Timothy Edward "Tim" Mahoney was a U.S. Representative for and a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected in November 2006 after his opponent, six-term Republican incumbent Mark Foley, resigned on September 29, 2006, after questions were raised about an email exchange with a congressional...

 of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Joe Courtney

Joe Courtney (politician)

Joseph Courtney is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:Courtney grew up in suburban Hartford and became a 1975 graduate of Tufts University...

 and Chris Murphy

Chris Murphy (politician)

Christopher Scott "Chris" Murphy is the U. S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party.Murphy previously served in the Connecticut House of Representatives and the Connecticut Senate....

 of Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, Nancy Boyda

Nancy Boyda

Nancy Boyda is a former Democratic congresswoman representing .On November 4, 2008, Boyda was defeated for re-election by Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, after serving one term....

 of Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, and Tim Walz

Tim Walz

Timothy James Walz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party .The district comprises the state's southern end, running along the entire border with Iowa...

 of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Results

The House passed a modified version of the bill, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008

FISA Amendments Act of 2008

The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 is an Act of Congress that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.-Background:...

, in June 2008.