The USA Patriot Act: It Could Happen to You.

Did you know that under the USA Patriot Act the Government can:

Label you a "terrorist."
The USA Patriot Act broadly expands the official definition of "domestic terrorism," so that student groups and other activists that engage in civil disobedience could very well find themselves labeled as terrorists and have their assets seized, if members engaging in a protest commit any acts considered "dangerous to human life" in violation of state or federal law, including misdemeanors (USA Patriot Act, H.R. 3162, Section 802).

Seize your student records.
The USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement far reaching access to student educational records without probable cause of crime. It allows educational agencies to furnish your records to the Attorney General (or his/her designee) — without your consent or knowledge — and without any opportunity for you or your university to challenge the secret order before it is issued. Furthermore, the Patriot Act exempts your college or university from any liability for turning over your records in response to such an order (Section 507).

Search your college dorm room, apartment or home without telling you for months or longer.
The USA Patriot Act allows federal law enforcement to get a court order to conduct secret "sneak and peek" searches of a dorm room, apartment or home. Investigators can secretly enter your residence, take pictures, copy computer files and seize your belongings without informing you that a search was conducted for an indefinite period of time. The Justice Department has recently admitted that 88% of these "sneak and peek" searches have been carried out in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism, and the Patriot Act does not require any link to terrorism (Section 213).

Collect information about what books you take out of your school library, what you study and what you purchase.
The USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement broad access to any type of records of the transactions of your daily life - consumer/sales, library, financial, medical, etc. - without probable cause of a crime or any specific facts connecting you to a foreign terrorist. Under the Patriot Act, the federal government can gather information about the books you buy or borrow, but the power is much broader than that and actually applies literally to "any tangible thing." It also prohibits recipients of such secret court orders, like university librarians, from ever disclosing to you or to the press, that they have produced such records (Sections 215).

Collect information about your credit history, your travel, cars you purchase, insurance records, your Internet transactions and your financial information.
The USA Patriot Act gives the FBI the power to issue a National Security Letter, demanding that any document from any organization considered a "financial institution" (such as banks, car dealerships, and insurance companies) without the prior approval of the courts and without showing a court any facts connecting you to a foreign terrorist. The recipient of such secret letters is prohibited from ever telling anyone about the demand for and contents of such records (Section 505).