Look what our government is doing for Freedom in America...
--
Ed Craig [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Taxi (I need an income) GNU/Linux (I can afford a Free OS)
Think this through with me, let me know your mind... Hunter/Garcia
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 02:47:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: the slave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [FNB-L] EFF Condemns DOJ Anti-Terror Bill
______________________________________
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
DOJ's Anti-Terrorism Bill Would Dismantle Civil Liberties
Legislate to Improve Security Not Eliminate Freedoms
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 19, 2001
Contact:
Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
+1 415-436-9333 x103
Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
+1 415-436-9333 x102
San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
today criticized the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" (MATA) a.k.a.
Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) proposed by the US Department of Justice
because many provisions of the law would dramatically alter the civil
liberties landscape through unnecessarily broad restrictions on free
speech and privacy rights in the United States and abroad.
EFF again urged Congress to act with deliberation in approving only
measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting
the freedoms of Americans.
Attorney General John Ashcroft distributed the proposed Anti-Terrorism
Act / Mobilization Against Terrorism Act to members of Congress after
Monday's press conference at which he indicated that, among other
measures, he would ask Congress to expand the ability of law
enforcement officers to perform wiretaps in response to the terrorist
attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked
Congress to pass anti-terrorism legislation including "expanded
electronic surveillance" by the end of this week.
EFF believes this broad legislation would radically tip the United
States system of checks and balances, giving the government
unprecedented authority to surveil American citizens with little
judicial or other oversight.
One particularly egregious section of the DOJ's analysis of its
proposed legislation says that "United States prosecutors may use
against American citizens information collected by a foreign government
even if the collection would have violated the Fourth Amendment."
"Operating from abroad, foreign governments will do the dirty work of
spying on the communications of Americans worldwide. US protections
against unreasonable search and seizure won't matter," commented EFF
Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien.
Additional provisions of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA),
originally called the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act (MATA),
include measures which:
make it possible to obtain e-mail message header information and
Internet user web browsing patterns without a wiretap order; eviscerate
controls on roving wiretaps;
permit law enforcement to disclose information obtained through
wiretaps to any employee of the Executive branch;
reduce restrictions on domestic investigations under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA);
permit grand juries to provide information to the US intelligence
community;
permit the President to designate any "foreign-directed individual,
group, or entity," including any United States citizen or organization,
as a target for FISA surveillance;
prevent people from even talking about terrorist acts;
establish a DNA database for every person convicted of any felony or
certain sex offenses, almost all of which are entirely unrelated to
terrorism;
EFF Executive Director Shari Steele emphasized, "While it is obviously
of vital national importance to respond effectively to terrorism, this
bill recalls the McCarthy era in the power it would give the government
to scrutinize the private lives of American citizens."
Ashcroft's proposed legislation comes in the wake of the Senate's hasty
passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act" (CTA) on the evening of
September 13 with less than 30 minutes of consideration on the Senate
floor.
The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act / Mobilization Against Terrorism Act:
http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_proposal.html
EFF analysis of the ATA/MATA bill [coming soon]:
http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_ashcroft.html
Attorney General John Ashcroft's remarks on response to terrorism from
FBI headquarters on September 17, 2001:
http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_statement.html
The Combating Terrorism Act (CTA), amendment S.A. 1562 of bill H.R.
2500, passed by the Senate:
http://www.eff.org/sc/wiretap_bill.html
Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html
EFF analysis of the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_wiretap_bill_analysis.html
Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security:
http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of
the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org/
=====
. the
. [|=-=prisoner=-=|]
. Free Radio Austin 97.1 http://pirateradio.org/fra
. Austin Independent Media Center: http://austin.indymedia.org
.
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