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HOUSE VOTES TO REVISE, EXTEND PATRIOT ACT, ANGERING SENATORS

The Patriot Act has been gradually transformed from a temporary antiterrorism measure to a permanent one.

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News and Commentary from Both Left and Right

Early version of new Patriot Act gives administration everything it asks for, GOP aides say: The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is working on a bill that would renew the Patriot Act and expand government powers in the name of fighting terrorism, letting the FBI subpoena records without permission from a judge or grand jury. --Associated Press, May 18, 2005
Senate committee to mull expanded police powers --Reuters

Plan to Broaden FBI's Terror Role --New York Times
Click HERE for Patriot Act updates.

TO OUR READERS: There are so many Patriot Act violations of American civil liberties that we can't keep up. Thus, we have suspended daily postings. However, from time-to-time, we will add links to important reports below. They are labled . Meanwhile, click HERE for today's dispatches concerning individual and national security. The page will take a moment to load. Thank you for your consideration.
--September 11, 2004

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CLICK HERE to discuss Privacy & Security, the Patriot Act, databases, and other civil liberty issues.

VIDEO: Industry is keeping track of you and government can tap into the database.
:: KCBS-TV 08/04/03

They came for the Communists, and I didn't object -- For I wasn't a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I didn't object -- For I wasn't a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I didn't object -- For I wasn't a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't object -- For I wasn't a Jew;
Then they came for me
-- And there was no one left to object.

- Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor, 1892-1984

Six Weeks
in Autumn
As the nation reeled from attack, a battle was joined for America's future. Not in Afghanistan. In Washington.
:: Washington Post
Magazine 10/22/02

William Safire:
You Are A Suspect
Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database."
:: New York Times via CommonDreams.org 11/14/02

Gunter Grass:
The U.S. Betrays
Its Core Values
There are many Americans who love their country too, people who are horrified by the betrayal of their founding values and by the hubris of those holding the reins of power. I stand with them. By their side, I declare myself pro-American. I protest with them against the brutalities brought about by the injustice of the mighty, against all restrictions of the freedom of expression, against information control reminiscent of the practices of totalitarian states and against the cynical equations that make the death of thousands of women and children acceptable so long as economic and political interests are protected.
:: Los Angeles Times via CommonDreams.org 4/07/03

NORMAN MAILER: Gaining an Empire, Losing Democracy?
There is a subtext to what the Bushites are doing as they prepare for war in Iraq. My hypothesis is that President George W. Bush and many conservatives have come to the conclusion that the only way they can save America and get if off its present downslope is to become a regime with a greater military presence and drive toward empire. My fear is that Americans might lose their democracy in the process.
:: International Herald Tribune via CommonDreams.org 02/25/03

Matt Welch:
Get Ready for PATRIOT II
The "fog of war" obscures more than just news from the battlefield. It also provides cover for radical domestic legislation, especially ill-considered liberty-for-security swaps, which have been historically popular at the onset of major conflicts.
:: AlterNet.org 04/03/03

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Dec. 24, 2003

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House Votes to Revise, Extend Patriot Act, Angering Senators
The House voted 251 to 174 yesterday to renew the USA Patriot Act, setting up a confrontation over the revised anti-terrorism measure with a group of Democratic and Republican senators who say it would not go far enough to protect civil liberties.

The Patriot Act, approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, made it easier for the FBI to conduct secret searches, monitor telephone calls and e-mails, and obtain bank records and other personal documents in connection with terrorism investigations.

Civil liberties groups say the proposed renewal would do too little to let targeted people challenge national security letters and types of subpoenas that give the FBI substantial latitude in deciding what records -- including those from libraries -- should be surrendered. [MORE]

:: Washington Post 12/15/05

Patriot Act debate will resume in fall
Now that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved different versions of legislation to renew the controversial law, pressure is mounting for politicians to agree on a single bill that can be sent to President Bush without delay. Those negotiations will resume in earnest when Congress returns after Labor Day from its August recess--though whatever the result, nearly all sections of the law are likely to be renewed indefinitely. [MORE]

:: CnetNews.com 8/1/05

President Bush departs the White House, Wednesday, July 20, 2005, with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for a day trip to Baltimore, Md. to speak on the Patriot Act. Left to right are Bush, Gonzales, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Chief of Staff Andrew Card, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

House votes to extend Patriot Act
The House voted Thursday to extend permanently virtually all the major antiterrorism provisions of the USA Patriot Act after beating back efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to impose new restrictions on the government's power to eavesdrop, conduct secret searches and demand library records. The legislation, approved 257 to 171, would make permanent 14 of the 16 provisions in the law that were set to expire at the end of this year. The remaining two provisions - giving the government the power to demand business and library records and to conduct roving wiretaps - would have to be reconsidered by Congress in 10 years. The House version of the legislation essentially leaves intact many of the central powers of the antiterrorism act that critics had sought to scale back, setting the stage for what could be difficult negotiations with the Senate, which is considering several very different bills to extend the government's counterterrorism powers under the act. [MORE]

:: New York Times 7/21/05

GOP Chairman Walks Out of Meeting
The Republican chairman walked off with the gavel, leaving Democrats shouting into turned-off microphones at a raucous hearing Friday on the Patriot Act. The House Judiciary Committee hearing, with the two sides accusing each other of being irresponsible and undemocratic, came as President Bush was urging Congress to renew those sections of the post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism law set to expire in September.
:: Washington Post 6/10/05

President Bush speaks about the Patriot Act at Ohio State Patrol Academy Thursday, June 9, 2005, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Bush Presses Congress to Renew Patriot Act
President Bush, facing efforts by some in his own party to scale back the post-Sept. 11 Patriot Act, says it has made America safer and should be made permanent. Lawmakers responded to the 2001 attacks by overwhelmingly approving the law 45 days later. It allowed expanded surveillance of terror suspects, increased use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado and permitted secret proceedings in immigration cases. Now, more than a dozen provisions are set to expire. Those provisions, among other things, provide authority for nationwide search warrants, enable the FBI and intelligence agencies to share information about terrorism cases and gave the FBI the power to obtain records in terrorism-related cases from entities such as libraries.

:: Associated Press 6/09/05

Congress Votes to Replace U.S. Color-Coded Terrorist Threat Warning System

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to replace the color-coded warning system used to alert the public to terrorist threats with a program that offers specific information about risks and suggested actions. The change, passed 424-4 today as part of a bill authorizing the Homeland Security Department's programs for next year, would require ``regional and economic sector-specific warnings'' and information on protective measures that should be taken.
:: Bloomberg via Huffington Post 5/18/05

'Downing St. Memo' fizzling in U.S.
A British official's report that the Bush administration appeared intent on invading Iraq long before it acknowledged as much or sought Congress' approval — and that it "fixed" intelligence to fit its intention — has caused a stir in Britain. But the potentially explosive revelation has proved something of a dud in the United States. The White House has denied the premise of the memo, the U.S. media have reacted slowly to it and the public generally seems indifferent to the issue or unwilling to rehash the bitter prewar debate over the reasons for the war.

The secret memo can be read at: www.timesonline.co.uk/ article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html
:: Chicago Tribune via Seattle Times 5/18/05

Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, left, and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III defend the Patriot Act.
(Shawn Thew / EPA)

Patriot Act Is Called Vital
The attorney general tells senators that to abolish or weaken the disputed law would amount to disarmament in the war on terrorism.
The Bush administration on Tuesday launched its campaign to preserve and expand the USA Patriot Act, the much-debated anti-terrorism legislation enacted after Sept. 11.

In unusually strong language before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales defended the administration's use of the law and warned that any effort to dismantle it would be tantamount to "unilateral disarmament" in the war on terrorism.

The law, portions of which will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts, has drawn opposition across the political spectrum, including civil liberties groups and libertarian conservatives concerned that it gives the government too much power to intrude into citizens' lives.

:: Los Angeles Times 4/6/05

How ordering in a pizza can be an invasion of your privacy Turn up your sound and click HERE.

"We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."
--Abraham Lincoln, November 10, 1864

John Gilmore on why he is so paranoid about the current political climate,
particularly about national ID cards:

"You may have no secrets and no vices. But is everyone close to you a similar paragon? You have no siblings who are secret adulterers, no kids who have stolen from the neighbors, no college friends who support themselves selling drugs, no co-workers who beat their wives when they get drunk, no gay friends who would suffer if "outed"? No ex-roommates who ever donated to a Muslim charity? You haven't attended a Passover celebration? Your TV wasn't tuned to the Pope's last speech? Your kids don't hang around with the kids of people who went to anti-government or anti-globalization protests? You never attended an engineering school at the same time as a suspected terrorist? Some of these things shouldn't need to be secrets, but in various societies, each has been enough to get you locked up, discriminated against, killed, or exiled. What secrets do you have to hide for those who you love? Or for those you merely brushed up against in society?"

:: Gulker.com 3/29/05

Bush urges renewal of Patriot Act
President Bush on Monday urged Congress to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act, the Justice Department's widely criticized anti-terrorism law. "We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war" on terrorism, Bush said at a swearing-in ceremony for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the Justice Department.

:: Associated Press via USA Today 2/14/05

The FBI said they may be involved in a terror threat against Boston. They are (clockwise from top left) Guozhi Lin, Zengrong Lin, Xiujin Chen, and Wen Quin Zheng. (AP Photo)

FBI: Possible terror suspects may be headed to Boston
The FBI notified Boston area law enforcement officials Wednesday to be on the lookout for four Chinese nationals described as possible terror suspects who may be headed to the area. Federal law enforcement officials in Boston said they had received a tip earlier in the day about an unspecified threat against Boston, and released photographs of the four suspects. The investigation prompted Gov. Mitt Romney, who had gone to Washington to attend Thursday's presidential inauguration, to decide to return home.

:: Associated Press 1/19/05

Radiation Sensors Deployed as Boston Probes Threat
Police carrying radiation detectors patrolled Boston's subway system on Friday after the FBI added another 10 names to a list of people it wants to question over a reported "dirty bomb" plot in the city.
:: Reuters via myway.com 1/21/05

FBI Says Boston 'Threat' a False Alarm
The FBI said on Tuesday there was "no credibility" to a reported threat against Boston last week that spurred a manhunt for 14 people and had police using radiation sensors in the city's subway system.
:: Reuters via myway.com 1/25/05

FBI Keeping Records on Pre-9/11 Travelers
If you're among the millions of Americans who took airline flights in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the FBI probably knows about it - and possibly where you stayed, whom you traveled with, what credit card you used and even whether you ordered a kosher meal.
:: Associated Press via myway.com 1/14/05

Bush pick to replace Ridge: Patriot Act architect Chertoff
President Bush filled a gaping hole in his second-term Cabinet on Tuesday by naming Michael Chertoff, a federal judge who helped develop the government’s aggressive response to the Sept. 11 attacks, to run the Department of Homeland Security. Chertoff, 51, who serves on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, ran the Justice Department’s criminal division from 2001-03. He played a major role in developing the controversial USA Patriot Act, which gave the government increased law enforcement and surveillance powers to fight terrorism.

:: USA Today via Desert Sun 1/12/05

ACLU Launches Nationwide Effort to Expose Illegal FBI Spying on Political and Religious Groups
Citing evidence that the FBI and local police are illegally spying on political, environmental and faith-based groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates in Iowa and other states today filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests around the country to uncover who is being investigated and why.

NPR Audio; ACLU Seeks Police Files on Activist Groups
:: ACLU 12/02/04

Bush Picks Kerik for Homeland Security Job
President Bush has picked as his homeland security secretary former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped the city respond to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and trained Iraqi police, administration officials said.

:: Reuters 12/2/04

Kerik, White House Say Withdrawal Was His Decision
The decision to withdraw his nomination as U.S. homeland security secretary over a personal controversy was made by Bernard Kerik himself, the White House and Kerik said on Saturday. :: Reuters 12/11/04

Bush Nominates His Top Counsel for Justice Post
President Bush on Wednesday nominated Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel and a longtime political loyalist, to be his next attorney general. The speed with which Mr. Bush acted, only a day after making public the resignation of John Ashcroft, indicated that the president wants to get his new appointees in place before the start of his second term, 10 weeks from now. The nomination of Mr. Gonzales would also put one of his most trusted aides in a post where past presidents have wanted to have a confidant, as well as someone who can help defend the White House, much as John F. Kennedy chose his brother Robert, or Ronald Reagan chose Edwin Meese III.

Ashcroft resigns attorney general's post
:: New York Times 11/9-10/04

Judge strikes down part of Patriot Act
Court rules that a key portion of the Bush administration's security policy is unconstitutional.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a part of the U.S. Patriot Act that allows the FBI to demand company records from businesses without court approval is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Victor Marreo ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the Bush administration's security policies on behalf of a John Doe plaintiff -- an Internet service provider company.
:: Money.CNN.com 9/29/04

Peter Moskos:
Balancing Security and Liberty
Two legal concepts allow both you and your bags to be searched despite the Constitution's protection against unreasonable search and seizure. By being in an airport and trying to board a plane, the Supreme Court says, you have given "implied consent" to being searched. The "plain view" principle, according to the court, states that whatever law enforcement legally finds, feels or sees -- even if unrelated to the original investigation or search -- is fair game for arrest and prosecution.
:: Washington Post 8/02/04

Bush calls for intelligence czar
President embraces key suggestion of 9/11 commission.
President Bush said Monday that he is asking Congress to create the position of a national intelligence director to serve as his principal adviser on countering terrorism.
:: CNN.com 8/03/04

Audio:
Candidates on the Issues:
The Patriot Act
National Security Law Provides Political Fodder for Bush, Kerry.
Just the name of the USA Patriot Act, the controversial measure enacted in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, stirs raw emotions in the debate over civil liberties vs. national security. Both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry support the law. But the presumed Democratic presidential nominee says some changes are needed to protect individual freedoms.
:: National Public Radio 7/20/04

CAPPS II Is Dead, Says Ridge, But Door Is Open For CAPPS III
Unnamed technical reasons and privacy concerns doomed the plan.
Concern about system interoperability and data privacy have grounded the Department of Homeland Security's prototype airline passenger-risk-assessment system. It was billed as a way of keeping terrorists off commercial airplanes. Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge announced the demise of the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System (CAPPS II) during a flight from Boston to Washington. Ridge had been in Boston speaking about security precautions being taken for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. The department, however, says a CAPPS III might be proposed.
:: InformationWeek.com 7/15/04

Privacy Groups Tag RFID
Using radio frequency identification (RFID) devices to collect personally identifiable information raises novel privacy issues that Congress needs to immediately address, public advocates told a U.S. House subcommittee Wednesday.
:: InternetNews.com 7/14/04

Justice Dept. Details Patriot Act Cases
Justice Department Provides Congress With Details of Cases in Which Patriot Was Act Used.
Seeking to bolster support for the Patriot Act, the Justice Department provided Congress on Tuesday with details of numerous cases in which the anti-terrorism law has been used. The 29-page report is part of the Bush administration effort to prevent Congress from weakening the law, which critics say threatens civil liberties by giving law enforcement authorities more latitude to spy on people.
:: Associated Press via ABC News 7/13/04

The Justice Department's Report on the Patriot Act [Adobe Acrobat Reader required]

Ashcroft report: Patriot Act has helped solve crimes [Knight Ridder Newspapers 7/13/04]

AUDIO: Justice Dept. Lists Patriot Act Cases [NPR Radio 7/13/04]

Ashcroft's Patriot Act Report to Congress Omits Key Information, ACLU Says [civilrights.org 7/13/04]

Airports Test Express Security Lane
A digital fingerprint and an eye scan can let frequent fliers avoid long lines and hassles.
Passengers could significantly cut their wait in airport security lines under a program, coming this month to Los Angeles, that the government began testing Wednesday in Minneapolis. With the "registered traveler" program, volunteers must pass a government background check and agree to digital fingerprinting and an iris scan. They are then issued high-tech identification cards that allow them to use an express security lane.
:: Los Angeles Times 7/08/04

First day of new airport screening comes with a few bumps [Minneapolis Star Tribune 7/08/04]

Journalists hit by new US visa rules
Just five months before American voters decide who will be appointed to the most powerful office in the world, the US state department said it would no longer allow overseas journalists to renew visas from within the country. From next week the estimated 20,000 foreign journalists stationed in the US, who used to be able to renew their visas with ease in any major city, will be forced to leave the country to do so. The state department said it was taking the action to comply with new homeland security legislation.
:: The Guardian (UK) 7/08/04

Bush Prevails as House Refuses to Curb Patriot Act
The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto threat Thursday and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government investigate people's reading habits.
:: Associated Press via commondreams.org 7/08/04

Inside the USA PAtriot Act
The USA Patriot Act -- the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act -- has generated intense debate since it was enacted almost three years ago. This series by The Providence Journal staff writer Gerald M. Carbone examines the implications of some of the more controversial sections of the act's 348 pages.

Day 1: Act greatly expands powers of secret court

Day 2: FBI can access almost anything about anyone

Day 3: Snooping of e-mail, voicemail made easier for federal agents

Day 4: Prosecutors' powerful tool can be shared with others

Day 5: Your financial information is available on demand

Day 6: Foreigners can be imprisoned indefinitely

Day 7: U.S. can seize assets, no conviction required

Day 8: The Act that nobody read
::Providence Journal 7/04/04 - 7/11/04

The Chilling of American Science
Q. Are foreigners also not coming because after 9/11, American science has become more closed?
A. Let me give you an interesting example from Cornell. The Patriot Act, which was passed after 9/11, has a section in it to control who can work on "select agents," pathogens that might be developed as bioweapons. At Cornell, we had something like 76 faculty members who had projects on lethal pathogens and something like 38 working specifically on select agents. There were stringent regulations for control of the pathogens - certain categories of foreign nationals who were not allowed to handle them, be in a room with them or even be aware of research results.
So what is the situation now? We went from 38 people who could work on select agents to 2. We've got a lot less people working on interventions to vaccinate the public against smallpox, West Nile virus, anthrax and any of 30 other scourges.
::New York Times 7/05/04

The Patriot's Act
What's more American than asking questions?
Michael Moore: I think it's time for those of us who love this country — and everything it should stand for — to reclaim our flag from those who would use it to crush rights and freedoms, both here at home and overseas. We need to redefine what it means to be a proud American.
:: Los Angeles Times 7/04/04

Ashcroft and the Patriot Act
For all his tortured and unconvincing defense of the Patriot Act, Attorney General John Ashcroft used to offer this point of reassurance: He had never authorized the enforcement of one of the most egregious parts of that law, the one that made it all the easier for government authorities to snoop through people`s library and business records. He said so just a month ago. How nice it would be if it were only true.
::El Diario 7/03/04

IBM begins testing supercharged barcodes
Radio tags, supercharged versions of the barcode, can help to track goods, automate banking services, improve product quality and ultimately even prevent someone from washing a new red t-shirt with the white laundry. Concerns about privacy, a big issue in the United States, appear to be less prominent in Europe where strict privacy laws have been implemented.
:: CNN.com 7/02/04

I write badly, therefore I am a would-be terrorist
CHARLES C. GREEN: I don't think of myself as a dangerous character. Neither, I think, do the lively old ladies who routinely trample me on the escalators at Neiman Marcus. Nor the other software salesmen who race past me into early retirement. Nor, above all, the publishers and agents who seem to take unabashed pleasure in routinely shredding my dream of hanging up my salesman's shoes and becoming an author.
But it turns out we're all wrong about me. Just ask John Ashcroft.
:: Houston Chronicle 7/02/04

Freedom Fighters 2004: The True Patriots
Three-hundred and thirty American communities have passed resolutions sending a message to Congress: United they stand against unconstitutional provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. Six of these communities are in Montana, and Whitefish is currently debating whether it wants to be number seven. Who’s behind opposition to the PATRIOT Act in the Treasure State, and what’s got them quoting so much Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin?
:: Missoula Independent 7/01/04

The Patriot Act of the 18th Century
How the Alien and Sedition Acts became the first act of government to limit the populous' constitutional rights.
:: TIME 6/27/04

AUDIO:
Patriot Act House-Buying Woes
Commentator Connie Rice discusses how the USA Patriot Act could throw a monkey wrench in the plans of first-time home buyers.
:: NPR 6/16/04

The Son of Patriot Act Also Rises
While activists and politicians work to repeal or change parts of the Patriot Act that they say violate constitutional rights, Patriot Act II legislation -- which caused a stir when it came to light last year -- is rearing its head again in a new bill making its way through Congress. The bill would strengthen laws that let the FBI demand that businesses hand over confidential records about patrons by assigning stiff penalties (up to five years in prison) to anyone who discloses that the FBI made the demand. The bill would also let the FBI compel businesses to cooperate with record requests, and it would expand the government's secret surveillance powers over noncitizens in the United States.
:: WiredNews.com 6/14/04

Somali charged in plot to destroy Ohio mall
A Somali man has been indicted on charges that he plotted with members of al-Qaida to blow up an Ohio shopping mall, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday. "The American heartland was targeted for death and destruction by an al-Qaida cell," Ashcroft said. Nuradin Abdi, 32, allegedly conspired with admitted al-Qaida operative Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver who pleaded guilty last year to plotting to cut the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge, authorities said. Abdi has been held on immigration charges since November.
:: Ohio.com 6/14/04

Acquittal in Internet Terrorism Case Is a Defeat for Patriot Act
A federal jury in Idaho on Thursday acquitted a Saudi computer student of charges that he spread terrorism on the Internet, handing the Justice Department a resounding defeat in a case that turned on a provision of the USA Patriot Act. The case of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, left, in Boise had become a test of the scope of U.S. anti-terrorism laws, including a provision of the Patriot Act that targets secondary players.
:: Los Angeles Times 6/11/04

24-hour camera surveillance in Baltimore is part of bigger plan
From the Inner Harbor to the Bay Bridge, local and state homeland security authorities are beginning to build a regional network of 24-hour surveillance cameras that will first go live this summer in Baltimore.
:: Baltimore Sun 6/10/04

RFID Privacy Gap?
The drive to place RFID tags on consumer products is relentless, but IT leaders say public policy on how to use and secure the information they'll provide is lagging behind. Where does consumer privacy fit into a world where every product has a unique IP address?
:: InternetNews.com 6/10/04

AUDIO:
Ashcroft Defends Patriot Act
As part of an effort to re-evaluate the Patriot Act, Attorney General John Ashcroft testifies Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. NPR's Larry Abramson reports on Ashcroft's knack for diverting attention from the questions being asked and shining the spotlight on himself.
:: National Public Radio 6/08/04

THE FBI'S ATTACK: An FBI hazardous materials team enters Steve Kurtz's Buffalo house, where they found unusual art materials. (Don Heupel / AP)
:: Washington Post 6/02/04

Artist falls afoul of Patriot Act
Artist's use of 'harmless' bacteria spurs investigation
In a highly unusual use of the USA Patriot Act, which its creators say was designed to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States, The New York Times reports that three artists have been served subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury June 15. The grand jury is considering whether or not to charge Stephen Kurtz, an art professor at the University of Buffalo whose art involves the use of biology equipment, with "possession of biological agents." Mr. Kurtz's problems with the Patriot Act began in May when he dialed 911 to report his wife of 20 years was unresponsive. When paramedics came to his house, one of them noticed that Kurtz had laboratory equipment, which he used in his art exhibits. The paramedics reported this to police and the FBI sealed off his house.
:: Christian Science Monitor 6/07/04

Where Big Brother Snoops on Americans 24/7
“What’s going on across the street?” one woman asked while waiting in line to deposit her paycheck last Friday. “Not sure,” said the man ahead of her in line. “Something to do with the government. The police cars and guards have been there since shortly after 9-11.” “Oh,” she said. “No matter.” Actually, if the woman knew what was happening inside the nondescript office building at 3701 Fairfax Drive, she might think it really does matter because the building houses the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Total Information Awareness Program, the “big brother” program Congress thought it killed.
:: Capitol Hill Blue 6/07/04

How Big Brother Is Watching, Listening and Misusing Information About You
You’re on your way to work in the morning and place a call on your wireless phone. As your call is relayed by the wireless tower, it is also relayed by another series of towers to a microwave antenna on top of Mount Weather between Leesburg and Winchester, Virginia and then beamed to another antenna on top of an office building in Arlington where it is recorded on a computer hard drive. The computer also records you phone digital serial number, which is used to identify you through your wireless company phone bill that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency already has on record as part of your permanent file. A series of sophisticated computer programs listens to your phone conversation and looks for “keywords” that suggest suspicious activity. If it picks up those words, an investigative file is opened and sent to the Department of Homeland Security. Congratulations. Big Brother has just identified you as a potential threat to the security of the United States because you might have used words like “take out” (as in taking someone out when you were in fact talking about ordering takeout for lunch) or “D-Day” (as in deadline for some nefarious activity when you were talking about going to the new World War II Memorial to recognize the 60th anniversary of D-Day).
:: Capitol Hill Blue 6/07/04

The 'Patriot' Search
Buying a home? Prepare to pay to have your name checked against a government list of suspected terrorists.
With the passage of the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which required that financial institutions create anti-money-laundering compliance programs, anyone purchasing property must be checked against a list of names of known and suspected terrorists. The list has been around since before the September 11 attacks, but increasingly the ritual closing ceremony has involved writing yet another check to the title company that runs the homebuyer’s name against that list.
:: Newsweek via MSNBC.com 6/04/04

Europe, U.S. agree to share information on airline passengers
U.S. and European officials signed an agreement Friday for sharing information on airline passengers, saying the new policy addresses concerns about privacy. The agreement, which takes effect immediately and is to last 31/2 years, gives U.S. authorities access to information about passengers on flights flying to or from the 25 European Union countries. The information will be checked against U.S. databases to determine if any travelers are terrorist threats.
:: Associated Press via SFGate.com 5/28/04

U.S. agencies collect, examine personal data on Americans
Numerous federal government agencies are collecting and sifting through massive amounts of personal information, including credit reports, credit-card purchases and other financial data, posing new privacy concerns, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO). The GAO surveyed 128 federal departments and agencies and found that 52 are using, or planning to implement, 199 data-mining programs, with 131 already operational.
:: The Washington Times 5/28/04

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, left, opposes the SAFE Act, which Idaho Sen. Larry Craig helped write. 'I am one of those who has a healthy suspicion of my government,' Craig says.
(Chicago Tribune / LAT)

AN OVERREACTION?: Even as Attorney General John Ashcroft warned on Wednesday that Al Qaeda planned “to hit the United States hard” in the next few months, U.S. intelligence officials were privately divided about whether the government had obtained any fresh information that justified such an extraordinary public announcement.
:: Newsweek via msnbc.com 5/26/04

You're being watched
Voices on all sides are raising concerns about post-9/11 security laws and the interpretation of those measures. How much privacy can we lose?
Since new security laws were introduced following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, information-gathering has crept into the most basic transactions of American life.
:: Los Angeles Times 5/26/04

Database Nation
Looking on the Bright Side of 'Zero Privacy'
As subscribers pull the June Reason magazine out of their mailbox, something about the issue should look familiar. The magazine published 40,000 individualized covers displaying an aerial photo of the subscriber's home and the surrounding neighborhood. Inside, the personalization continues. Subscribers can find out how many of their neighbors are college educated and what percentage of kids in their zip code are being raised by their grandparents.
:: NPR 5/04/04

Spaceyed out on Google What's to prevent Google developing software that will set off an alarm if someone uses certain words - like "dirty bomb" or "freedom for China"? If Google is reading the mail anyway, why not do some moonlighting for the intelligence agencies?
:: Haaretz.com 4/28/04

Florida Town to Automate Camera Surveillance
One of the nation's wealthiest towns will soon have cameras and computers running background checks on every car and driver that passes through. Police Chief Clay Walker said cameras will take infrared photos recording a car's tag number, then software will automatically run the numbers through law enforcement databases. A 911 dispatcher is alerted if the car is stolen or is the subject of a "be on the lookout" warning. Next to the tag number, police will have a picture of the driver, taken with another set of cameras—upgraded versions of the standard surveillance cameras already in place.
:: Associated Press via eWeek.com 4/27/04

REVISITING the USA Patriot Act
A new consensus appears to be emerging, despite the heated rhetoric of this presidential election year, that would scale back some of the act's more controversial provisions - or at least require more judicial oversight as authorities apply the act's broad surveillance powers - while institutionalizing the ability of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to share information.
:: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 4/27/04

Idaho terror case could be a test of the Patriot Act
As a Webmaster to several Islamic organizations, graduate student Sami Omar al-Hussayen helped to maintain Internet sites with links to groups that praised suicide bombings in Chechnya and in Israel. But he himself does not hold those views, his lawyers said. His role was like that of a technical editor, they said, arguing that he cannot be held criminally liable for what others wrote. Civil libertarians say the case poses a landmark test of what people can do or whom they can associate with in the age of terror alerts.
:: Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/27/04

Politics of Patriot Act Turn Right for Bush
Only months ago, Democrats were targeting the controversial USA Patriot Act as an ideal issue to use in their campaign against President Bush, assailing the law as an intrusion on civil rights. But in a turnabout, the act has suddenly emerged as a cornerstone of Bush's reelection campaign, while Democratic rival Sen. John F. Kerry and others have toned down their criticism.
:: Los Angeles Times 4/25/04

ID card trials to start next week
Trials of identity cards are to be launched next week, the BBC has learnt. The pilot will involve 10,000 volunteers and be run from the Passport Office in London and three other centres around Britain. The government hopes the pilot scheme will pave the way for compulsory identity cards for everyone within the next decade.
:: BBC.com 4/24/04

Akron schools start lunch fingerprinting program
Old-fashioned meal tickets are out. High-tech fingerprinting technology is in. The school district here has begun implementing a $700,000 "iMeal" program that identifies students in school lunch lines using their fingerprints. Students at one middle school were "enrolled" in the system Friday morning - a process that involved scanning their fingerprints. Students at three other middle school have already been signed up.
:: Akkron Beacon Journal 4/24/04

First Foreigners, Then Americans
Most Americans believed the Patriot Act powers would never be applied to them, according to Georgetown University law professor David Cole,left. But Cole says history shows that once the American government goes after foreigners, it's only a matter of time before it turns the same laws on Americans.
:: Wired News 4/20/04

AUDIO: Bush Urges Retaining Patriot Act
President Bush reiterates his proposal to make parts of the 2002 Patriot Act permanent before they expire next year. The president made his remarks in Buffalo, N.Y., the site of the first successful prosecution under the act. Six Arab-Americans from nearby Lackawanna pled guilty to supporting terrorism by visiting al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
:: NPR Radio 4/20/04

Patriot Act called lifesaver for U.S.
President Bush yesterday credited the Patriot Act with preventing a repeat of the September 11 attacks in part of a three-day campaign to prod Congress into reauthorizing the law, which many Democrats, including presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, have sharply criticized.
:: The Washington Times 4/19/04

President Continues Push to Extend Patriot Act
President Bush traveled to Buffalo today to continue his drive for an extension of provisions of the USA Patriot Act that are set to expire next year. In what was billed by the White House as a "conversation," Mr. Bush told an audience of political supporters, firefighters and police officers: "The Patriot Act needs to be renewed and the Patriot Act needs to be enhanced. That's what we're talking about."
:: New York Times 4/20/04

President urges renewal of Patriot Act
Declaring the Patriot Act a vital tool in the war on terror, President Bush says Congress would place the nation at greater risk of attack if it fails to renew the law's wide-ranging law enforcement powers.
:: USA Today 4/17/04

How the Death of Judy's Father Made America More Secretive
A plane crashes at the dawn of the Cold War, and the government seeks a special legal privilege. Its claim sows the seeds of the Patriot Act.
:: Los Angeles Times 4/18/04

Test Screening Planned for Trains at Maryland Station
The Transportation Security Administration plans to begin testing techniques for improving passenger rail security at a station in New Carrollton, Md., that is served by Amtrak and commuter trains that run between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, according to government officials. The agency will conduct passenger screening, but not the way it is done at airports. "It is not going to be as invasive as airport screening is," said Dan Stessel, a spokesman for Amtrak. "No one at New Carrollton will be asked to remove their belt or shoes."
:: New York Times 4/15/04

Disney Testing Metal Detectors, Screening Devices
Walt Disney World will be testing magnetic-style screening devices or metal detectors after hours at its theme parks, sources tell Local 6 News Thursday.
:: Local6.com 4/15/04

California Lawmaker to Google: Do Not Gmail
"They will be scanning your private e-mail," California State Sen. Liz Figueroa told internetnews.com. "You may say that's fine and dandy, but I may not like it. To what extent are we giving up privacy?"
:: InternetNews.com 4/13/04

BRITAIN'S BIG BROTHER
As surveillance grows,
so does concern about privacy in the closely watched nation
Many Britons now go about their daily lives like contestants in a reality-TV show, with cameras tracking their every move on residential and commercial streets, on buses, trains and subways, in offices, pubs and malls, even in churches and schools. Experts calculate that the average commuter in London is filmed 300 times a day.
:: Houston Chronicle 4/12/04

American Airlines faces lawsuit over privacy
American Airlines and one of its technology vendors were sued Monday over the release of 1.2 million passenger records to other companies working for the government.
:: Associated Press via SanLuisObisbo.com 4/12/04

Gov. Bush lobbies for drug-tracking database
A proposal Gov. Jeb Bush is championing to create a massive electronic tracking system of who is prescribing and who is using prescription drugs is in trouble in the Florida Legislature.
:: Sun-Sentinel.com 4/10/04

Patriot Act 101
The USA Patriot Act has consistently been derided by the Left since President Bush signed it into law on October 26, 2001. Given all the hubbub, it is surprising how little is known about its content.
:: FrontPageMag.com 4/01/04

Government wants to make Internet phone calls wiretap-friendly
Washington's appetite for easy surveillance has again put civil liberties on the run. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration have jointly asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to extend hidebound, phone-company style wiretap capability into new Internet-based phone calls (called "VoIP" for Voice over Internet Protocol). They argue that leaving the new technology unregulated would make it harder to monitor possible terrorist communications.
:: Chicago Tribune 3/30/04

U.S. Patriot Act author, critic go toe to toe
Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy and U.S. Patriot Act author Viet Dinh (left), and Massachusetts ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose attempted to frame the act outside of partisan political thought that is becoming more popular as the U.S. presidential campaign revs up.
:: Tufts Daily 3/18/04

The Bush Administration Pushes to Expand the Patriot Act
President George W. Bush used the second anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks not only to praise the controversial USA Patriot Act but to promote further expanding federal law enforcement powers.
:: Center for Public Integrity 3/17/04

U.S. to force airlines to provide traveler data
The U.S. government will require reluctant airlines to give up passenger data to test a controversial passenger-screening system, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
:: Reuters via Forbes.com 3/17/04

How the Justice Department Subverted a Respected Reporter's Rights
A month before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and all of the increased government secrecy that has ensued, the Justice Department secretly seized the home telephone records of respected investigative reporter and deputy bureau chief of the Associated Press in Washington, John Solomon. And earlier this year, the FBI opened and confiscated his mail. Center for Public Integrity executive director Charles Lewis recently interviewed Solomon about it.
BACKGROUND: Click here.
:: The Center for Public Integrity 3/17/04

Government Continues Assault on American Freedoms Two cutting-edge computer projects designed to preserve the privacy of Americans were quietly killed while Congress was restricting Pentagon data-gathering research in a widely publicized effort to protect innocent citizens from futuristic anti-terrorism tools.
:: Associated Press via Capitol Hill Blue 3/15/04

Is Military Creeping Into Domestic Law Enforcement?
In a little-noticed side effect of the war on terrorism, the military is edging toward a sensitive area that has been off-limits to it historically: domestic intelligence gathering and law enforcement.
:: Dow Jones Newswire 3/09/04

Government's pursuit of personal data lives on Several federal agencies are using the personal data of U.S. citizens to pinpoint terrorist activity, a practice that a secretive Pentagon program was pursuing before Congress axed its funding amid fears it would be used to spy on Americans.
:: The Washington Times 3/01/04

Patriot Act blurred in the public mind
Nearly 2½ years after Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, Americans are confused and troubled by the law that is a linchpin in the Bush administration's efforts to identify al-Qaeda operatives and sympathizers in this country.
:: USA Today 2/26/04

Q&A:
The Patriot Act Is Your Friend Viet Dinh has been called a "political pit bull" and "a foot soldier" for Attorney General John Ashcroft. But the 36-year-old author of the Patriot Act prefers to be called an "attendant of freedom."
:: Wired.com 2/24/04

Nat Hentoff:
Rewrite Patriot Act to protect freedom to protest
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, makes the essential point that "it is not necessary to sacrifice civil liberties in order to increase security." In agreement, a number of prominent conservative organizations have joined with liberal groups to tell the president and the Republican congressional leadership to revise certain language in the Patriot Act.
:: The Washington Times via FirstAmedmentCenter.org 2/19/04

Opinion:
TUPAC, the Patriot Act and Me
Under the American Patriot Act, it is quite possible that you, too, are unwittingly contributing to your own secret dossier.
:: CounterPunch.org 2/14/04

Opinion:
CHECKING out the Patriot Act
So let’s not go out of our way to worry needlessly, the way so many misguided souls who are hyperventilating over the USA Patriot Act are.
:: The Heritage Foundation 2/12/04

Justice Dept. Seeks Hospitals' Records of Some Abortions
The Justice Department is demanding that at least six hospitals in New York City, Philadelphia and elsewhere turn over hundreds of patient medical records on certain abortions performed there. Lawyers for the department say they need the records to defend a new law that prohibits what opponents call partial-birth abortions. A group of doctors at hospitals nationwide have challenged the law, enacted last November, arguing that it bars them from performing medically needed abortions.
:: The New York Times 2/11/04

Pentagon Kills LifeLog Project
The Pentagon canceled its so-called LifeLog project, an ambitious effort to build a database tracking a person's entire existence. Run by Darpa, the Defense Department's research arm, LifeLog aimed to gather in a single place just about everything an individual says, sees or does: the phone calls made, the TV shows watched, the magazines read, the plane tickets bought, the e-mail sent and received. Out of this seemingly endless ocean of information, computer scientists would plot distinctive routes in the data, mapping relationships, memories, events and experiences.

HOUSE VOTES TO REVISE, EXTEND PATRIOT ACT, ANGERING SENATORS

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