This New York Times article, Republicans Want Terror Law Made Permanent, indicates there is a partisan fight afoot on the Hill over a proposal by Sen. Orrin Hatch to make specific provisions of the Patriot Act permanent, rather than allowing them to expire (“sunset”) in 2005 as originally specified. As follows, here is the applicable… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Patriot Act
Santa Cruz Librarians Fight Patriot Act
A headline from today’s New York Times states, Librarians Use Shredder to Show Opposition to New F.B.I. Powers. This article provides further details to a previous posting on the stance of public librarians in Santa Cruz County against provisions of the Patriot Act that permit the FBI to access patron data. The librarians are using… Continue Reading
EFF Analysis of Patriot II
The Electronic Frontier Foundation just published an in-depth analysis of the January 9, 2003 draft known as Patriot Act II, titled Provisions of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 that Impact the Internet and Surveillance. This analysis refers to the purported vaporware bill (there is no offical DOJ statement accepting authorship) as USAPA II,… Continue Reading
PayPal Violated Patriot Act According to US Attorney
As reported in USA Today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri has charged that eBay Inc.’s online payment company, PayPal, provided services, prior to mid-2002, to online gambling merchants, in violation of the Patriot Act. From eBay’s annual report filed in March, the following details: “On March 28, 2003, PayPal received… Continue Reading
Advocacy Groups Continue Challenge to Patriot Act
Announcement from EPIC’s website, March 24: “In a legal memorandum (pdf) filed with the federal court in Washington, EPIC and the American Civil Liberties Union challenge the Justice Department’s refusal to disclose basic, statistical information concerning implementation of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act. For background information and copies of DOJ and FBI documents that have… Continue Reading
Freedom of Information Resource
EPIC has launched the Online FOIA Gallery 2003, providing “scanned images of documents obtained by EPIC through the Freedom of Infomation Act, including evidence of the misuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, video monitoring of political protesters in Washington, DC, and the names and project titles of the organizations receiving funding from John Poindexter… Continue Reading
War on Terrorism and Freedom of Information
A new White Paper from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, released March 14: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public’s Right to Know Covering the war. Topics covered include: Military tribunals, Access to terrorism & immigration proceedings, Domestic coverage, The USA PATRIOT Act, The reporter’s privilege, Freedom… Continue Reading
New High Tech Telephone Surveillance Application
From this article in Security Focus, news that Verint Systems, “a global organization providing analytic software solutions for communications interception, digital video security and surveillance,” to governments around the world, has launched a sophisticated new application called ULTRA IntelliFind that monitors telephone communications and creates a database of specified key words which are then searchable… Continue Reading
New Mexico Bill on Civil Liberties and Patriot Act
Representive Max Coll introduced House Joint Memorial 40 to the New Mexico Legislature, “Affirming Civil Rights and Liberties; Declaring Opposition to Federal Measures that Infringe on Civil Liberties.” The House subsequently issued this substitute bill that includes the following statement: The bill seeks to “direct public libraries to post in a prominent place within the… Continue Reading
Santa Cruz Libraries Post Patriot Act Warnings
According to this article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, branch libraries in Santa Cruz County have posted signs (as well as an online statement) warning patrons that “Although the Santa Cruz Library makes every effort to protect your privacy, under the federal USA PATRIOT ACT (Public Law 107-56), records of the books and other materials… Continue Reading
Library Surveillance Exclusion Sought
Spurred on by an October 22, 2002 letter from the Vermont Library Association, Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) introduced a new bill on March 6, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, to exempt libraries and bookstores from Section 215 of the Patriot Act. He did so with a bi-partisan coalition of 24 co-sponsors. Section 215 is… Continue Reading
Newspaper Editors and the Patriot Act II
The American Society of Newspaper Editors recently issued a memo, The Effect of Patriot Act II on Newspapers. It focuses on three areas in which the proposed draft legislation would impact First Amendment rights: “(1) Increased surveillance authority that might chill speech, especially political dissent; (2) Increased restrictions on access to government information, either generally… Continue Reading
