The Patriot Act: What does the Patriot Act mean to me?

[Billsman]

<TABLE cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=460 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=headGreen>Question</TD></TR><TR><TD class=question>The Patriot Act: What does the Patriot Act mean to me?</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.askquestions.org/img/buttons/meToo.gif (http://www.askquestions.org/metoo.php?id=23)</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.askquestions.org/img/lines/green.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD class=headOrange>Editor's Comments</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>The Patriot Act was passed into law on October 24, 2001, just six weeks after the events of 9/11. The Act is scheduled to expire at the end of this year, and Congress is currently debating what to do with it. You can read the Patriot Act online at this site: www.epic.org. (http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html)

A recent LA Times editorial outlines the issues under debate among lawmakers and makes some recommendations about how to improve the law: Checks on the Patriot Act (11/21/05). (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-patriot21nov21,0,6128606.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials)

The US Department of Justice provides the argument in favor of the Patriot Act at a site: www.lifeandliberty.gov (http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/highlights.htm) that also gives the history of the act and updates to it.

For the other side of the picture, read analysis from the Electronic Freedom Foundation at: www.eff.org (http://www.eff.org/patriot/). This site also tracks new developments with the Patriot Act.</TD></TR><TR><TD>
BACK TO TOP (http://www.askquestions.org/details.php?id=23#top_of_page)</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.askquestions.org/img/lines/green.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD class=headBlue>Public Comments</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #1
How was the PATRIOT ACT, which is over 300 pages long, released just 6 weeks after 9/11? Doesn't this suggest that it was written prior to 9/11 and 9/11 was just an excuse to ram it through Congress? And if so, who wrote it and why?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #2
I've heard that federal agents can demand information or records from a person and "gag" them EVEN to the point that they cannot consult a lawyer. This goes against my most basic understanding of our laws. Is this true? Is it possible that an agent can order you to give up records, documents, information and deny you the right to check with your own lawyer?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #3
Can we retain the few good provisions regarding information-sharing between agencies and get rid of the rest of the Patriot Act? If not, can we repeal the whole Patriot Act, and pass new legislation allowing the information-sharing?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #4
Was there a banking law enacted post 9/11 and maybe part of the Patriot Act that states bamk deposits a copy of a check is used instead of waiting for the actual check? Millions of bank deposits were held up for several days because of the inaccesibility of financial institutions in lower Manhattan.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #5
Here's an organization that has been a part of the forefront of resisting the Patriot Act and encouraging municipalities and states to pass legislation forbidding the enforcement of the Patriot Act: The Bill of Rights Defense Committee: www.bordc.org (http://www.bordc.org/) For an overview of how civil liberties have been trounced on by the Patriot Act and other "security measures," please take a look at a documentary called "Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties." It can be found here: www.publicinterestpictures.org (http://www.publicinterestpictures.org/unconstitutional)</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #6
What rights do I lose in the patriot act?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #7
One of the most dangerous parts of the Patriotic Act is Section 213 which allows for delayed notification of search warrants. Under the fourth amendment, the government needs a search warrant to search and seize anything from your residence or business. They notify you of this warrant usually when they knock on your door and enter your house. However, under the patriot act the government can delay notification of the search warrant if they find probable cause that adverse consequences qould occur if the suspect was aware of the search warrant. This means your residence or business or just you can be searched without notification. This part of the Patriotic Act has also led to the detainment of suspects under investigation for indefinite amounts of time. Though a judge would set the amount of time a suspect would remain in custody, the investigators have the ability to return to that judge and continue the investigation, thus keeping the person in detainment for even longer. In one known case, a suspect was originally put in custody for seven days. However the investigators were able to renew that time period 31 times. Thats more than seven months that that person has to spend in custody, out of work, under investigation, and cut off from the rest of his/her life. So thats one problem with the Patriot Act.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #8
I am receiving complicance fees on my invoices from vendors and they cite the Patriot Act as the reason. What are the guidelines and limits for these charges and does the funds go a governmental agency?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #9
How is the Bill of Rights doing? Immediately prior to 9/11, which of the first ten amendments to the Constitution were still truly in effect and which were being ignored? Since 9/11, what changes have occured in the status of these ten amendments?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #10
Although I do not pretend to know, or understand, the patriot act, it is very similar to a law that Hitler had made up on his second rise to power just before WWII. There was much said about it and anti passage campaigns just before it passed. Basically it is as the one comment said, The gov can demand any information about you or somebody you know, with or without your permission, if they suspect you of any wrong doing to the US. You must give them the information or risk arrest. You can not object, or risk arrest. Does sound a little familiar does it not?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #11
"Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness. Get control of all means of publicity and thereby: Get the peoples' mind off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and plays, and other trivialities. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance. Destroy the peoples faith in their natural leaders by holding up the latter to ridicule, contempt and obloquy. Always preach true democracy but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible. Encourage government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear with rising prices, inflation and general discontent. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a soft and lenient attitude on the part of government towards such disorders. By specious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness. Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext, with the view of confiscating them and leaving the population defenseless."</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #12
I was at a store last week, and the clerk asked if I would like to apply for a store credit card. One of the first questions on the application was my social security number. I asked why they needed my social security number and she said it was due to the Patriot Act. Is this true? Must we always give our social security number in order to get a credit card?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #13
Does the Patriot Act allow the U.S. Government to have access to your internet searches without obtaining a warrant?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #14
When will we realize that we have left the cage door open? We laugh at and scorn the Germans for their failure to stop Hitler and sneer "how could they not have done something?" well, guess what...How the hell could WE not have done something.....it's too late.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #15
The Patriot Act might affect you in that people like me who have been politically active, community oriented, outspoken on issues, involved in the electorial process and, may I say, generally interestring to have arond, have left the country in disgust! My family and I have moved to Europe because 1) We can have health care in the EU, 2.) Can't afford to live in the States, and 3.) Don't want to have the govt looking over my shoulder, threatening who knows what if I say the wrong thing. The American Empire is in it's death throas and I jumped ship! Now you have let them renew the Patriot Act. I see I was right to leave.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #16
The name of the legislation is perjorative. That says all you need to know about its sponsors!</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #17
It worries me very much that this is going on. I watch the movie Unconstitutional. I believe that things could become very bad. This ACT really makes people stop and think before they speak out against the government. It should not be this way. To me this is a government that has chosen the "by any means nessary" route. Right now they have the right to do whatever they want with out being qustioned about.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #18
District Court Judge Marrero of New York, in a 122-page ruling, said the FBI's use of secret searches without judicial review "violates the Fourth Amendment," and that the "nondisclosure provision" of the law which prevents one from telling anyone of your imprisonment to keep it a secret for national security reasons "violates the First Amendment" (by violating the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances"). A Boston federal judge ordered the Justice Department to release a secret document it used to develop a new policy giving local police authority to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of lacking immigration documents (including US citizens, if they don’t look like US citizens to local police). Here are just a few of the ways in which your freedoms may be jeopardized by the act: Freedom of Association: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigations. Freedom of Information: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests. Right to Legal Representation: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to US citizens accused of crimes. Freedom from Unreasonable Searches: Government may search and seize papers and effects owned by citizens without probable cause to assist terror investigations. Right to a Speedy and Public Trial: Government may jail anyone indefinitely without a trial, including US citizens. Right to Liberty: Anyone may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #19
I read at the time some blurb was added to this act - without notifying the politicians before the vote - about making Eli lilly(?) immune from lawsuits about mercury poisoning from vaccines (the mercury was way above regulations). Is it this act (I do remember it was sneakily added to a "fight-terrorism" type bill)? Is the ignorance of politicians before the vote an urban legend or not?</TD></TR><TR><TD class=comments>Comment #20
What rights (according to to the patroit act) to the FBI have in regards to wiretapping?</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Billsman]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=5><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 background=images/spacer_003366.gif border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Highlights of the USA PATRIOT Act</TD><TD>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/table_topright.gif</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD background=images/spacer_003366.gif rowSpan=5>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/spacer_003366.gif</TD><TD bgColor=#999999 colSpan=3>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/spacer.gif</TD><TD background=images/spacer_003366.gif rowSpan=5>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/spacer_003366.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD rowSpan=3>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/spacer.gif</TD><TD height=5>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/spacer.gif</TD><TD rowSpan=3>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%">
Just Released: Delayed Notice Search Warrants: A Vital and Time-Honored Tool for Fighting Crime (http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/docs/patriotact213report.pdf)
Field Report on the PATRIOT Act (http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/docs/071304_report_from_the_field.pdf)
The Department of Justice's first priority is to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Patriot Act has played a key part - and often the leading role - in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life. While the results have been important, in passing the Patriot Act, Congress provided for only modest, incremental changes in the law. Congress simply took existing legal principles and retrofitted them to preserve the lives and liberty of the American people from the challenges posed by a global terrorist network. PDF version (http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/patriot_overview_pversion.pdf)

The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty
(Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism)

http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/images3/check.gif Congress enacted the Patriot Act by overwhelming, bipartisan margins, arming law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism: The USA Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1, and 357-66 in the House, with the support of members from across the political spectrum.
The Act Improves Our Counter-Terrorism Efforts in Several Significant Ways:
1. The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers, and have been reviewed and approved by the courts. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during the floor debate about the Act, "the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the mob should be good for terrorists." (Cong. Rec., 10/25/01)
Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror. Before the Patriot Act, courts could permit law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance to investigate many ordinary, non-terrorism crimes, such as drug crimes, mail fraud, and passport fraud. Agents also could obtain wiretaps to investigate some, but not all, of the crimes that terrorists often commit. The Act enabled investigators to gather information when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes, including: chemical-weapons offenses, the use of weapons of mass destruction, killing Americans abroad, and terrorism financing.
Allows federal agents to follow sophisticated terrorists trained to evade detection. For years, law enforcement has been able to use "roving wiretaps" to investigate ordinary crimes, including drug offenses and racketeering. A roving wiretap can be authorized by a federal judge to apply to a particular suspect, rather than a particular phone or communications device. Because international terrorists are sophisticated and trained to thwart surveillance by rapidly changing locations and communication devices such as cell phones, the Act authorized agents to seek court permission to use the same techniques in national security investigations to track terrorists.
Allows law enforcement to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists. In some cases if criminals are tipped off too early to an investigation, they might flee, destroy evidence, intimidate or kill witnesses, cut off contact with associates, or take other action to evade arrest. Therefore, federal courts in narrow circumstances long have allowed law enforcement to delay for a limited time when the subject is told that a judicially-approved search warrant has been executed. Notice is always provided, but the reasonable delay gives law enforcement time to identify the criminal's associates, eliminate immediate threats to our communities, and coordinate the arrests of multiple individuals without tipping them off beforehand. These delayed notification search warrants have been used for decades, have proven crucial in drug and organized crime cases, and have been upheld by courts as fully constitutional.
Allows federal agents to ask a court for an order to obtain business records in national security terrorism cases. Examining business records often provides the key that investigators are looking for to solve a wide range of crimes. Investigators might seek select records from hardware stores or chemical plants, for example, to find out who bought materials to make a bomb, or bank records to see who's sending money to terrorists. Law enforcement authorities have always been able to obtain business records in criminal cases through grand jury subpoenas, and continue to do so in national security cases where appropriate. These records were sought in criminal cases such as the investigation of the Zodiac gunman, where police suspected the gunman was inspired by a Scottish occult poet, and wanted to learn who had checked the poet's books out of the library. In national security cases where use of the grand jury process was not appropriate, investigators previously had limited tools at their disposal to obtain certain business records. Under the Patriot Act, the government can now ask a federal court (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), if needed to aid an investigation, to order production of the same type of records available through grand jury subpoenas. This federal court, however, can issue these orders only after the government demonstrates the records concerned are sought for an authorized investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a U.S. person is not conducted solely on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment.
2. The Patriot Act facilitated information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better "connect the dots." The Act removed the major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from talking and coordinating their work to protect the American people and our national security. The government's prevention efforts should not be restricted by boxes on an organizational chart. Now police officers, FBI agents, federal prosecutors and intelligence officials can protect our communities by "connecting the dots" to uncover terrorist plots before they are completed. As Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) said about the Patriot Act, "we simply cannot prevail in the battle against terrorism if the right hand of our government has no idea what the left hand is doing." (Press release, 10/26/01)


Prosecutors can now share evidence obtained through grand juries with intelligence officials -- and intelligence information can now be shared more easily with federal prosecutors. Such sharing of information leads to concrete results. For example, a federal grand jury recently indicted an individual in Florida, Sami al-Arian, for allegedly being the U.S. leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the world's most violent terrorist outfits. Palestinian Islamic Jihad is responsible for murdering more than 100 innocent people, including a young American named Alisa Flatow who was killed in a tragic bus bombing in Gaza. The Patriot Act assisted us in obtaining the indictment by enabling the full sharing of information and advice about the case among prosecutors and investigators. Alisa's father, Steven Flatow, has said, "When you know the resources of your government are committed to right the wrongs committed against your daughter, that instills you with a sense of awe. As a father you can't ask for anything more."
3. The Patriot Act updated the law to reflect new technologies and new threats. The Act brought the law up to date with current technology, so we no longer have to fight a digital-age battle with antique weapons-legal authorities leftover from the era of rotary telephones. When investigating the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, for example, law enforcement used one of the Act's new authorities to use high-tech means to identify and locate some of the killers.
Allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred. Before the Patriot Act, law enforcement personnel were required to obtain a search warrant in the district where they intended to conduct a search. However, modern terrorism investigations often span a number of districts, and officers therefore had to obtain multiple warrants in multiple jurisdictions, creating unnecessary delays. The Act provides that warrants can be obtained in any district in which terrorism-related activities occurred, regardless of where they will be executed. This provision does not change the standards governing the availability of a search warrant, but streamlines the search-warrant process.
Allows victims of computer hacking to request law enforcement assistance in monitoring the "trespassers" on their computers. This change made the law technology-neutral; it placed electronic trespassers on the same footing as physical trespassers. Now, hacking victims can seek law enforcement assistance to combat hackers, just as burglary victims have been able to invite officers into their homes to catch burglars.
4. The Patriot Act increased the penalties for those who commit terrorist crimes. Americans are threatened as much by the terrorist who pays for a bomb as by the one who pushes the button. That's why the Patriot Act imposed tough new penalties on those who commit and support terrorist operations, both at home and abroad. In particular, the Act:
Prohibits the harboring of terrorists. The Act created a new offense that prohibits knowingly harboring persons who have committed or are about to commit a variety of terrorist offenses, such as: destruction of aircraft; use of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons; use of weapons of mass destruction; bombing of government property; sabotage of nuclear facilities; and aircraft piracy.
Enhanced the inadequate maximum penalties for various crimes likely to be committed by terrorists: including arson, destruction of energy facilities, material support to terrorists and terrorist organizations, and destruction of national-defense materials.
Enhanced a number of conspiracy penalties, including for arson, killings in federal facilities, attacking communications systems, material support to terrorists, sabotage of nuclear facilities, and interference with flight crew members. Under previous law, many terrorism statutes did not specifically prohibit engaging in conspiracies to commit the underlying offenses. In such cases, the government could only bring prosecutions under the general federal conspiracy provision, which carries a maximum penalty of only five years in prison.
Punishes terrorist attacks on mass transit systems.
Punishes bioterrorists.
Eliminates the statutes of limitations for certain terrorism crimes and lengthens them for other terrorist crimes.The government's success in preventing another catastrophic attack on the American homeland since September 11, 2001, would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the USA Patriot Act. The authorities Congress provided have substantially enhanced our ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute acts of terror.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/highlights.htm

[nehemiah]

it means tyranny. plain and simple.

[Billsman]

Friend or foe?

[nehemiah]

Friend or foe?needs to go!

and will not be missed.

patriot act is the first resort of fascists.

[RabidBillsFan]

What I read at the library is MY business.

If my friend is falsely labeled a terrorist suspect, there is no recourse they have to protect themselves- no checks and balances.

The courts are there to protect people from being overrun by law enforcement and government agencies. Once this protection is taken away, freedom is severely restricted.

Who says that someone is a terrorist if there is no oversight, no protection? Look at the guys in Guantanamo- do you want that to be American citizens next? NO THANKS!!

[Meathead]

needs to go!

and will not be missed.

patriot act is the first resort of fascists.
yea-ah and holla out fo da politico rappa extrodinaire, shuga nee!!!

ward

[sukie]

How did the lackawana seven get nabbed?