Among other disturbing aspects of the USA/Patriot Act are broad new powers of search and seizure. Many of the rights upon which Americans relied before September of 2001 have now been compromised, leaving U.S. citizens with little protection for their privacy. Anyone concerned about keeping their thoughts and activities from prying eyes should have a basic understanding of the three major surveillance implications listed below.
1. Personal Records
The provisions of the Patriot Act now enable the FBI to force a third party such as a library, bank, bookstore, doctor, or internet service provider to hand over a client’s/customer’s records. The government need not show probable cause in order to access records, but needs only to state that these activities are based on an ongoing investigation. Surveillance orders can be based on open and legal activities such as the books a person reads or the websites they visit. What’s more, a third party that has been ordered to hand over records is prohibited from informing the person whose records were taken that the search was conducted. A victim has no way of challenging illegitimate searches!
So if the FBI suspects that you have some vague terrorism connection (go to the drugs-forum site = involved with drug trade = buy a product that has been in some way trafficked or touched by the Taliban or FARC = support terrorism…), they can subpoena any of your personal records and you’ll never know – that is until you are hauled in.
2. Secret Searches
Used to be, the FBI would knock on your door while you’re at home and present you with a warrant. At that point, you’d call your lawyer who’d come on over and have a chance to tell them that their warrant is invalid (they got the wrong address, they’re looking through your sock drawer when they say you stole a car, the paperwork is out of order, etc. etc.) Now, they can sneak into your home, collect any evidence they want, and not tell you about it for an indefinite period of time. Warrants list specific areas that are allowed to be searched, but when the target of the search is not allowed or able to contest the scope of the search, the government can exceed their bounds and collect anything they want. To add insult to injury, this new power applies to all investigations; there need not be any line drawn between searching your property and terrorism.
3. Wiretaps
Just as with physical searches, the FBI can now gain permission to monitor your communications (both its content and its origin and recipient) without showing probable cause. If they suspect that you are engaged in something that they don’t like, and have not a shred of evidence, they can slap a tap on your phone and install their Carnivore computer monitoring package at your ISP to see what you’re up to. Basically this means that anything you do over the phone or internet is fair game.
Civil liberties arguments aside (hey, what about the fourth amendment?!), this is all very dangerous stuff. Many of the rights that once protected us are simply no longer valid. The bottom line is that one must now be much more careful in any dealings or activities that he/she would like to keep private. Be smart, keep out of trouble.
17-06-2004, 17:47
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