-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Matthew S. Hallacy wrote: > http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63800,00.html > > Particularly disturbing: > > "Under the Patriot Act and Patriot Act II provisions passed in the Intelligence Authorization Act last year, the FBI doesn't need a court order or probable cause to obtain the transaction records for patrons of libraries, Internet service providers, telephone companies, casinos, travel agents, jewelers, car dealers or other businesses. > > The FBI can simply draft a "national security letter" stating records are needed for a national security investigation, without being specific about the data being sought or the people being investigated. A nondisclosure provision prevents the letter recipient from telling anyone about it, including patrons whose records may be investigated. " > > > Once again, our wonderful "representatives" are at work, slipping tidbits > of legislation into bills that have nothing in common. > > Write/Call/Fax/Email the appropriate government officials for your locale. > You may wonder why your elected reps support this. There's only a electoral downside for them if they oppose it, and then a new terrorist incident happens. There's no popularity downside to giving more power to the FBI. America, as a whole, trusts the FBI. Look at all the second-guessing and finger-pointing that's coming from the "9/11 Commission" currently. People are in the most trouble now for NOT snooping enough--not connecting the dots. As a rule, politicians only get punished for not being aggressive enough previously--after something bad happens. And, crime is never static. If the FBI taps a terrorist's phone, the terrorist can switch to "Voice Over IP" or something that's not currently covered by the wiretap law. There's not much written on the pro side, on the net, but here are a couple items (about the original P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act) found with a google groups search, not totally negative: http://tinyurl.com/2lc7t http://tinyurl.com/ywrbw Randy -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFA0IJnpt7MVOKb6kYRAoH+AKDbSIHNa33WbcJr2JYWa93axlByyACePKI+ dPns9+lvWDR7zs3/3urZfLo= =6PXh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list