Patriot Act

President Bush signed the Patriot Act into law on October 31^st, 2001.

The Patriot Act significantly increases penalties for acts of terrorism, changes the definition of terrorism, and increases the statute of limitation on crimes of terrorism. The act also greatly increases the information collection ability of federal agencies, both foreign and domestic. The Patriot Act also amends many existing laws in subtle ways making them broader in scope.

The 342 page bill was passed by congress with record speed and no debate after the 9/11 attacks. It is said that the bill was a reaction to the 9/11 attacks, but like many other aspects of the Bush agenda that are claimed to be reactionary, legislation in the Patriot Act goes back a long way, and in fact some of it had previously been proposed and been shot down because it was deemed unconstitutional in 1996.

The Patriot Act was not written up in response to the 9/11 attacks, it is a collection of laws that the Bush administration and law enforcement agencies had been compiling for years. The Bush administration was already ready to enact these laws even prior to the election.

In Bush's own words:

"This bill was carefully drafted and considered. Led by the members of Congress on this stage, and those seated in the audience, it was crafted with skill and care, determination and a spirit of bipartisanship for which the entire nation is grateful. This bill met with an overwhelming -- overwhelming agreement in Congress, because it upholds and respects the civil liberties guaranteed by our Constitution. "

In fact there was little debate and there was no testimony heard from experts outside of law enforcement. The bill was also fast tracked so that it was not subject to the standard review procedures and now, today, people all around the country are troubled by this act precisely because it does not

Some items of interest in the Patriot Act:

• It provides for information sharing between the FBI and the CIA. This may sound okay, but it is violation of the CIA charter to conduct domestic surveillance activity, and this rule effectively nullifies that aspect of the charter. It should be noted that the CIA has engaged in domestic spying and espionage in the past, most prominently under operation CHAOS.

  For more on CHAOS:

  http://www.cia-on-campus.org/surveil/chaos.html

• Broadens the FBI's ability to gain warrants through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. These warrants are secret and the defendant may not be allowed to know the purpose of the warrant that was used to collect information on them and the nature of how it was served.

  For more on FISA warrants:

  http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/03/18/findlaw.analysis.ramasastry.warrant/

• Allows federal agencies to request information on reading material and web sites that a person has accessed from libraries and requires libraries to track that information.
• Changed the status of voicemail to e-mail, making it easier to legally monitor.
• Allows for confiscation of private property in America for a wider range of crimes.
• Permits tracing on electronic communications without a court order.
• Provides for nationwide tracing and access to e-mail communications with a court order.

A Congressional Report on the Patriot Act:

http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RS21203.pdf

Analysis of the Patriot Act related to On-line activity:

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Terrorism_militias/20011031_eff_usa_patriot_analysis.html

For more on nation wide protest to the Patriot Act:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64173-2003Apr20.html