USAPATRIOTAct

Section 802: Domestic Terrorism

The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism in many different ways. One of the most interesting definitions is given under section 802, which states domestic terrorism as those actions that “appear to be intended… to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.”   All nonviolent forms of civil disobedience fall under this definition of terrorism. Actions which change mass opinion are considered coercion, and the gathering of people is considered intimidation by the opposing force. 

Section 206: Roving Wiretaps

Section 206 extends a single warrant (telephone, email, etc…) to “contents of any wire or electronic communications.” This new form of warrant is known as a roaming wiretap. Under such, a federal agent who has taken a warrant out on a single individual could theoretically monitor every American citizen. The idea of this section is to enable federal agents to track a terrorist even if they have switched phones. Because of this, any phone a terrorist might use, from a pay phone down the street, to a neighbor’s phone is considered a legitimate tap under section 206. It is important to note that after a FISA judge permits a roaming wiretap there is officially no more oversight on its implementation, or review of whom it is used to target.  Originally, a court order or warrant, for monitoring a person’s phone connection, was limited to that person’s sole telephone connection. If the Justice Department was concerned that obtaining warrants for phone taps would obstruct federal agents under a time constraint than they could simply request that roving wiretaps be reviewed after the fact. But currently they are not.     

Section 213: Sneak and Peak

Another provision of the Patriot Act, which comes under question, is its allowance for “sneak and peek searches” (section 213). This provision allows for the delayed notice of federal search warrants. Officers are now allowed to entire a person’s house, when they are knowingly away, seize evidence, and not notify the person for the increment of time that officer feels is necessary.  This provision does more than violate a person’s 4th amendment right; it also goes against the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which states under Rule41(d), “The officer taking property under the warrant shall give to the person from whom or from whose premises the property was taken a copy of the warrant and a receipt for the property taken or shall leave the copy and receipt at the place from which the property was taken.”

Section 215 and Section 505: Any Tangible Thing

Of particular concern are sections 215 and 505 which greatly expand the scope of information that can be collected by federal agents without appealing to any court. Section reads as follows: “`(a)(1) The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things…” The application described above is known as a National Security Letter (NSL). Originally NSL’s were created under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, purpose of aiding federal agents in preventing an impending disaster. For example, if a federal agent believed a terrorist had a nuclear bomb in his house, he wouldn’t need to wait for a court order to search the residence; he would be able to quickly sign a NSL as a substitute for a court order. However, under section 505 of the Patriot Act the use of NSL’s expanded to nearly any form of investigation at the discretion of a federal agent. Moreover, there is no judicial oversight of NSL’s and once a NSL is issued there is a gag order attached requiring whoever was subjected to it to not report to anyone what has occurred. In reference to section 215, federal agents can use this system to request “any tangible thing.” These things include, but are not limited to, medical, library, military, school and credit records. Again, there is no judicial oversight and no limit to the use of either section. Section 215 has become famous in regards to protests by librarians who have been unwilling to comply with federal officials.   

Section 326: Patriot Act Compliance

Section 326 of the Patriot Act requires all financial institutions to install computer identification programs (CIP’s) on their computers, forcing them to send all of their data, real time, to a 3rd party corporation who monitors it and reports its findings to the government. These computer programs act as key sniffers; literally grabbing all inputted information and sending it out. The way it works is that a financial institution installs this program and pays a monthly service to a Patriot Act Compliance Service, which takes the information from their server and shifts through it. There are hundreds of these Patriot Act Compliance Services, and to date, there is no legislation to block them from reselling the information they acquire. The Patriot Act Compliance industry has become one commanding hundreds of billions of dollars. In essence, its sole existence depends on the loss of liberty – in order for it to grow, more liberties must be lost. 

Section 326 clearly states the purpose of these CIPS as tools for  “(A) verifying the identity of any person seeking to open an account to the extent reasonable and practicable; (B) maintaining records of the information used to verify a person's identity, including name, address, and other identifying information; and (C) consulting lists of known or suspected terrorists or terrorist organizations provided to the financial institution by any government agency to determine whether a person seeking to open an account appears on any such list” . Worst, if a person is red-flagged by the FBI, that person will no longer be able to conduct transactions with any business that has CIP’s installed on their system. This thought becomes even worse when taking into account that acts of political protest can be considered domestic terrorism under section 802 of the USA Patriot Act. In essence, political dissidents could be prevented from taking part in the economy.

See USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 Section 326

See USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, Section 802(a)(5)(B)(ii)