Draft bill would expand, not curtail, the USA Patriot Act



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: EFF Obtains Draft PATRIOT Bill
Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 10:23:10 -0700
From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall@gmail.com>
Reply-To: joehall@pobox.com
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>, Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>

<http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_05.php#003594>

EFF Obtains Draft PATRIOT Bill

Bill Gives Justice Department More Power to Demand Private Records

On Thursday, May 26, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will
consider in closed session a draft bill that would both renew and
expand various USA PATRIOT Act powers. The Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) has obtained a copy of the draft bill, along with the
committee's summary of it, and has made them available to journalists
and interested citizens on its website, http://www.eff.org/.

"Even though Congress is still debating whether to renew the broad
surveillance authorities granted by the original USA PATRIOT Act, the
Justice Department is already lobbying for even more unchecked
authority to demand the private records of citizens who are not
suspected of any crime," said Kevin Bankston, EFF attorney and Equal
Justice Works/Bruce J. Ennis Fellow. "The Senate's intelligence
committee should focus on adding checks and balances to protect
against abuse of already-existing PATRIOT powers, or repealing them
altogether, rather than working to expand them behind closed doors."

Draft of new PATRIOT Act powers.

Senate Select Committee summary.

Contacts:
Kevin Bankston
Attorney, Equal Justice Works / Bruce J. Ennis Fellow
Electronic Frontier Foundation
bankston@eff.org

Lee Tien
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
tien@eff.org

-- 
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
UC Berkeley, SIMS PhD Student
<http://pobox.com/~joehall/>
Posted by Declan McCullagh on May 23, 2005 in category privacy