Another section of the act also enables the government to access the subject lines of e-mails and even to track Web surfing habits, if law enforcement officials can certify that the surveillance is somehow relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.
All of this is why organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) have launched lawsuits and education campaigns to bring attention to how innocent citizens can be ensnared in wide and unfocused "fishing" expeditions for intelligence gathering.
- Books and Records Searches
In essence, Section 215 grants the FBI the extraordinary power to obtain the personal records of any U.S. citizen as long as the related investigations "protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
....Further, the FBI's authority to access records had been generally limited to business records and credit transactions. Section 215 changed all that to apply to "any tangible things belonging to or held by any organization or person."
....Under both 215 and 505, nothing is off limits. Medical histories, credit reports, magazine subscriptions, membership lists, bookstore purchases, airline reservations, social service files, library records, academic transcripts, psychiatric records, charitable contributions and even genetic information can be accessed. (Ashcroft admitted the latter when questioned by the House Judiciary Committee in June 2003.)
Section 412 of the PATRIOT Act increases from 24 hours to seven days the amount of time the government now has to either charge detained immigrants with an act of terrorism (or another serious criminal offense), or to let them go. If charged, defendants in immigration proceedings have no automatic right to counsel, and can face indefinite detention if the attorney general finds "reasonable grounds" to believe the defendant is a terrorist or a threat to national security in some fashion.
- Definition of Domestic Terrorism
In the PATRIOT Act, Section 802 describes domestic terrorism as something that involves "acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States," if the intent is to "influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion." The creation of a new category of domestic terrorism has raised fears of unwarranted crackdowns on street demonstrations and heightened concerns that people who simply associate with certain groups in their private lives could, by virtue of their affiliations, be charged under this law.
"What if a window is broken or a police officer is injured by a flying projectile in the course of a street demonstration? If laws are broken in the course of protest, it is possible that the crime could be classified as domestic terrorism."
Another section of the act relating to terrorism, Section 303, has drawn criticism and a successful lawsuit from the Center for Constitutional Rights. That section, explains Kadidal, "was designed to give prosecutors the discretion to charge defendants with crimes just based on their association with groups. It's classic guilt-by-association, of the sort that was used to persecute Communist Party members," he adds.
From the perspective of civil libertarians, the picture is far from pretty: a public kept in the dark; a government with unchecked and wide-ranging power over the lives of citizens; and immigrant communities on guard and less likely to provide the kinds of civilian tips that are typically at the heart of all major international anti-terrorism arrests.
....U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a staunchly conservative Texan Republican, issued some of the harshest and most critical words about the majority vote in the House.
"All of this nonsense about sunsets and reauthorizations merely distracts us from the real issue," Rep. Paul wrote in his July 25 Texas Straight Talk column. "America was not founded on a promise of security, it was founded on a promise of personal liberty."
Another section of real concern in the House version is the creation of a narco-terrorism offense.
Is anybody listening?
