USA: ACLU RELEASES REPORT ON PATRIOT ACT ABUSES

From the gagging of our nation's librarians under the national security
letter statute
newly re-launched site www.reformthepatriotact.org.

Patriot Act - Eight Years Later
<www.reformthepatriotact.org>

Reclaiming Patriotism: A Call to Reconsider the Patriot Act On December 31,
2009, three provisions of the Patriot Act will sunset. This is the perfect
opportunity for Congress to examine all of our surveillance laws and amend
those that have been found unconstitutional or have been abused to collect
information on innocent people, including last year's changes to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Attorney General Guidelines
(AGGs).

Despite the many amendments to these laws since 9/11, congress and the
public have yet to receive real information about how these powerful tools
are being used to collect information on Americans and how that information
is being used. All of these laws work together to create a surveillance
superstructure - and Congress must understand how it really works to create
meaningful protections for civil liberties.

The ACLU's recent report, Reclaiming Patriotism
<http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/safefree/patriot_report_20090310.pdf>,
provides more information on parts of the Patriot Act that need to be
amended.

* National Security Letters (NSLs). The FBI uses NSLs to compel internet
service providers, libraries, banks, and credit reporting companies to turn
over sensitive information about their customers and patrons. Using this
data, the government can compile vast dossiers about innocent people.
Government reports confirm that upwards of 50,000 of these secret record
demands go out each year. In response to an ACLU lawsuit (Doe v. Holder),
the Second Circuit Court of Appeal struck down as unconstitutional the part
of the NSL law that gives the FBI the power to prohibit NSL recipients from
telling anyone that the government has secretly requested customer Internet
records.

* Material Support Statute. This provision criminalizes providing "material
support" to terrorists, defined as providing any tangible or intangible
good, service or advice to a terrorist or designated group. As amended by
the Patriot Act and other laws since September 11, this section criminalizes
a wide array of activities, regardless of whether they actually or
intentionally further terrorist goals or organizations. Federal courts have
struck portions of the statute as unconstitutional and a number of cases
have been dismissed or ended in mistrial.

* FISA Amendments Act of 2008. This past summer, Congress passed a law to
permit the government to conduct warrantless and suspicion-less dragnet
collection of U.S. residents' international telephone calls and e-mails.
This too must be amended to provide meaningful privacy protections and
judicial oversight of the government's intrusive surveillance power.
----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/