Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2005/12/08/patriot-act-update/
Text of conference report:
http://news.com.com/pdf/ne/2005/Final_Conference_Report.pdf
---
http://news.com.com/Must+we+renew+the+Patriot+Act/2010-1028_3-5989887.html
Perspective: Must we renew the Patriot Act?
By Declan McCullagh
December 12, 2005, 4:00 AM PST
What do mandatory drug testing, cigarette taxes and methamphetamine
restrictions have to do with protecting America from terrorists?
As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing." But they nevertheless
appear in a 219-page proposed law to renew the Patriot Act that
Republicans have scheduled for a vote this week.
A fraction--a mere 16 sections--of the Patriot Act's awesome
surveillance powers expire Dec. 31. They expanded secret methods the FBI
can use to obtain business records; authorized more information sharing
between Internet providers and police; and listed computer hacking as an
offense permitting increased eavesdropping.
[...remainder snipped...]
_______________________________________________
Politech mailing list
Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)