Congress drafts new "anti-terror" bill -- with expiration date

John Young jya at pipeline.com
Tue Oct 2 22:54:22 PDT 2001


There are numerous changes in PATRIOT from MATA and ATA,
and it has over twice their length. It still uses the same
obfuscation style of burying dozens of proposals as modifications
of existing legislation, making it hard to understand what is
being proposed without jigsaw puzzling the pieces into the 
legislation being modified to see what the whole picture
will be when assembled. An underhanded method compared
to Leahy's open-book bill.

Creepy to read the massive shutdown planned for the Canadian
border. Canada is surely to scream economic warfare at the US's
pressure to close liberal immigration and civil liberty loopholes --
it doesn't look good for ZKS. What's the assessment within,
Ian?

To be sure, the US and its iron-maidenish allies are rushing
to close loopholes around the world, and one bad effect of
PATRIOT is for it to be used as a model for other countries
to toe the line and consequent clampdown on security
technologies. And pressure to shut Sealand, perhaps to
require the Bunkers to allow rummaging the precious data.

PATRIOT does just about everything Stewart Baker's Defense
Science Board panel recommended for legal policy to protect 
US national security, in particular the sharing of domestic
law enforcement, FBI, DoJ and IRS databanks with the military 
and the spooks and vice versa. Under the Ashcroft plan anyone 
can be declared by the Attorney General to be a terrorist or a 
supporter/advisor of terrorism and with that all civil liberities 
of the targets disappear.

For example, those constitutional rights Tim claimed a hour ago 
are still in effect in the US. But not if this bill passes. I suspect 
insulting a cop will become quickly a terrorist's mark of Cain. 
Much less refusing a National Guard order at the airport. A 
quick addition of the misbehaver to the US Stasi databank and 
a lifetime investigation and harassment commences -- or if the 
target gets Tim-like uppity a hole in the head made by lead or
enforced psychotherapy, totally approved by terrorist-drunk 
courts of jurisdiction. 

USA. USA.

Remember, do not say out loud, "fuck that." Think abou it,
then decide to self-suppress for a couple of years, then
a couple more, then more after that. It's a long, long campaign
the leaders warn, just like their predecessors said the main
enemy is within.





More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list