People across the country are speaking out against the USA PATRIOT Act and demanding that Congress re-examine its provisions to bring them in line with the Constitution.
In response to this outcry and the PATRIOT Act's many problems, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have introduced a bipartisan bill, "Protecting the Rights of Individuals Act" (S. 1552), that would protect against some of USA PATRIOT Act's most troubling provisions -- such as the use of sneak and peek searches -- and other government actions.
Specifically, the Murkowski-Wyden bill protects First Amendment activities of political protestors and requires a higher standard of proof before allowing government access to highly private and sensitive data (such as library, bookstore and medical records). It also bans federal agencies from engaging in "data-mining" without explicit congressional authorization and strengthens protections against government abuse by requiring that foreign intelligence warrants be issued only if the "primary purpose" of the warrant is for the gathering of foreign intelligence information.
Take Action! Urge your Senator to support this important legislation.
The PATRIOT Act needs to be corrected.
The government can now use a special intelligence court to collect information about the books you read, your purchases and your personal finances. Government agents can now obtain many types of your personal records -- educational, medical, financial, sales, library, etc. -- even if they have no probable cause of a crime. In fact, the PATRIOT Act prohibits the holders of that information, such as librarians, from disclosing that these records were turned over to the government.
Law-abiding people should be protected from government snooping.
A hallmark of American democracy has long been that our individual privacy is protected against government intervention and snooping as long as we are not guilty of wrongdoing. Unfortunately recent government efforts on data-mining would obliterate these protections -- the government would simply collect data on everyone. Doing so would make all of us suspects and in effect eliminate our personal privacy.
This legislation is an important step toward fixing the PATRIOT Act.
The Murkowski-Wyden bill would help ameliorate many of the most controversial provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and write into law protective standards against some measures, such as data-mining, adopted by the Bush Administration without congressional approval.
TAKE ACTION!