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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

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