USA PATRIOT Act

Judge deals blow to Patriot Act

Posted September 7th, 2007 by Anonymous
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A key portion of the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and violates Americans' free speech rights, a federal judge said Thursday in a case that could represent a bitter setback for the Bush administration's attempts to expand its surveillance powers.


U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the section of the Patriot Act that permits the FBI to send Internet service providers secret demands, called national security letters, for customer information violates the First Amendment and unreasonably curbs the authority of the judiciary.

Demanding the Truth About FISA

Posted August 15th, 2007 by Anonymous
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A government of the people, for the people, and by the people can't survive if it is shrouded in secrecy from the people.


As the 110th Congress wrapped up its first session with every member raring to get away for August recess, the Bush administration bullied a Democratically- controlled Congress into passing a law that amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to give the executive branch even more power to spy on Americans without a court warrant. And a spineless Congress caved.

Files on Illegal Spying Show C.I.A. Skeletons From Cold War (NY Times)

Posted June 28th, 2007 by Anonymous
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WASHINGTON, June 26 — Long-secret documents released Tuesday provide new details about how the Central Intelligence Agency illegally spied on Americans decades ago, including trying to bug a Las Vegas hotel room for evidence of infidelity and tracking down an expert lock-picker for a Watergate conspirator.

Source List of Key Laws and Policies that Threaten Civil Liberties

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Match a commonly referenced antiterrorism law or policy to its source. Note that many laws currently in use that threaten civil liberties predate the USA PATRIOT Act.

Introduction to the Patriot Act Culture:

Posted April 12th, 2007 by LoyalNine
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As periods of social and political conflict confront the state there is often a corresponding period of lost liberty. In America this is a phenomenon seen during the era of Alien and Sedition Acts, the Palmer Raids, McCarthyism and CoIntelPro. Historically there appears to be a cyclical rise and fall of American liberty. Using reflective analysis many feel this cycle is responsible for the current state of the country.

Washington Post exposes Data Mining

Posted March 11th, 2007 by Anonymous
in
Report Details Missteps in Data Collection

Over a three-year period ending in 2005, the FBI collected intimate information about the lives of a population roughly the size of Bethesda's -- 52,000 -- and stored it in an intelligence database accessible to about 12,000 federal, state and local law enforcement authorities and to certain foreign governments.

How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines Domestic Terrorism

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How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines "Domestic Terrorism"

Section 326: Patriot Act Compliance

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Section 326 Patriot Act Compliance

What is Section 326?

Currently there are billions of dollars being spent on Patriot
Act compliance. Just as the Y2K bug made businesses small and large alike
scurry around updating their systems so has the Patriot Act. Section 326 of
the USA PATRIOT Act requires financial institutions to develop a risk-based
approach to a Customer Identification Program (CIP).

What is Section 215?

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What is Section 215?


Section 215 allows the FBI to order any person or entity to turn over "any
tangible things," so long as the FBI "specif[ies]" that the
order is "for an authorized investigation . . . to protect against international
terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."

Section 215 vastly expands the FBI's power to spy on ordinary people living
in the United States, including United States citizens and permanent residents.

Surveillance Under the USA PATRIOT Act (ACLU)

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Surveillance
Under the USA PATRIOT Act (ACLU)


What is the USA PATRIOT Act?

Just six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a panicked Congress passed
the "USA/Patriot Act," an overnight revision of the nation's surveillance
laws that vastly expanded the government's authority to spy on its own citizens,
while simultaneously reducing checks and balances on those powers like judicial
oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government
searches in court.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin, 1759

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