Civil liberties at risk

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Mon, 23 May 2005 16:44:00 -0400

Civil liberties at risk

 

St. Petersburg Times (http://www.sptimes.com)

 

 

 

Write your senators and congressman/woman, and tell them the majority

of Americans want the UNPatriot Act to be SUNSETTED, in total!

Enough of the abuse of our privacy rights! Jan

 

Civil liberties at risk

By A Times Editorial

Published May 23, 2005

 

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/05/23/Opinion/Civil_liberties_at_ri.shtml

 

 

 

 

The right to be free from unreasonable searches is at risk of becoming

a relic of a more enlightened time in American history. With 16

provisions of the USA Patriot Act set to sunset at the end of the

year, the

Bush administration and Senate Republican leaders are pushing to renew

the act and essentially expand one of its most controversial surveillance

provisions. Their proposal would give the FBI the power to demand

business and other personal records related to a terrorist investigation

without first obtaining judicial approval.

 

There already are civil liberties concerns over the lax standards for

records access contained in Section 215 of the Patriot Act - one of the

provisions set to expire. The section directs a judge in a secret court

to allow the government to obtain any record it wishes if the

investigation is related to national security. Prior to the Patriot Act's

passage, the FBI had to first demonstrate that the records sought

pertained

to an " agent of a foreign power. "

 

Getting rid of this individualized suspicion requirement enabled the

FBI to gain access to huge databases that include personal information on

law-abiding Americans, with only the barest of judicial oversight. But

even this perfunctory level of judicial review is apparently too much

scrutiny. The Bush administration and Republican leaders on the Senate

Select Committee on Intelligence now want to allow the FBI to obtain

these sorts of records with an administrative subpoena, which can be

issued internally without a request to a judge. Supporters note the FBI

already has the authority to issue administrative subpoenas in cases

involving health care fraud, drug trafficking and other categories of

crime.

 

But antiterrorism investigations are different from other types of

criminal inquiries. Experience shows there is a far greater danger that

suspicion will be based on a person's ethnicity, religious affiliation

or membership in a group that is critical of the government.

 

As Congress debates the merits of various parts of the Patriot Act, it

should consider restoring some reasonable checks on law enforcement.

The FBI may not want to be answerable to a judge when it seeks to peer

into our private lives, but the protection of our liberty demands it.

 

 

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