Let the Patriot Act Die

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://www.capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=3739>



Let the Patriot Act Die
 by Tom DeWeese (June 17, 2004)

 Article website address:  http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3739

Summary:  Repealing our liberties in the name of fighting terrorism will
not lead to peace.

 [CAPMAG.COM]President Bush has hit the campaign trail to save the Patriot
Act, which will expire in 2005. In calling for its continuation, the
President said, "we can no longer rely on false hope." Which false hope is
that? The hope that America's free society will protect us like it has for
more than 200 years? We who love American liberty have great fear of the
Patriot Act.

 Its aim, according to the Justice Department, is to give federal law
enforcement agencies the surveillance and investigative tools they need to
deter future terror attacks, but the quick, emotional passage of the
Patriot Act only weeks after the September 11th attacks allowed little time
for scrutiny of its measures. In fact, most members of Congress did not
read it before voting. Congressman Ron Paul said he couldn't even get a
copy before the vote. As a result, provisions of the Act offer major
opportunities for government abuses of law-abiding private citizens.

The Act says that the government does not need to have a suspect or to even
be conducting an investigation related to terrorism to monitor your visits
into web sites on the Internet.

The Patriot Act changes the definition of terrorism, allowing even
legitimate protestors, such as pro-life activists, to be at risk of being
labeled "terrorists" if violence erupted at their events.

 The Act expands the capability to obtain warrants and conduct searches
without disclosing them immediately. Under the Act, law enforcement can
walk into your home and take records without your knowing they were there.
Of course a warrant must be obtained. But you may never know about it. It
doesn't even require a real judge to obtain one anymore.

The Act requires fuller identification of bank customers. A year before
9-11 more than 150,000 Americans protested these very provisions in a
scheme by the FDIC called "Know Your Customer." But now, special software
will help firms in 25 finance-related industries, covered by the law, to
compare millions of customer records with thousands of entries on federal
blacklists.

 Businesses such as car dealers, insurance companies, investment brokers,
lenders and real estate firms will be required to file "Suspicious Activity
Reports" to the Treasury Department.

 Here's an interesting fact. The Patriot Act only mentions protecting our
northern border. It says not a word about the southern one. Our southern
border remains, absolutely wide open, allowing anyone to literally walk
into this country.

 In the name of fighting terrorism, we are witnessing a new kind of
government "urban sprawl" oozing out of Washington, D.C. into every back
alley, bedroom, and underwear drawer in America.

The Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA)
reports that there are more than 100 federal entities involved in forging
the largest conglomeration of government/private contractor interests since
the creation of the Pentagon. GEIA represents hundreds of corporate members
seeking to cash in on the Homeland Security-citizen-surveillance-spending
spree.

 In September 2002, dozens of major high-tech companies formed the
"Homeland Security Industries Association." A key objective of the
association is to win a piece of the action for the creation of national ID
cards for travelers.

 Business Week reports that the SAS Institute is among many corporations
scrambling to launch a whole new line of anti-money laundering software
designed to help insurance companies, investment banks and brokerage firms
spy on their clients' financial activities on behalf of the government in
compliance with the Patriot Act.

According to Bert Ely, the head of a consulting company for financial
institutions, the new anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act
will do nothing to stop the financing of international terrorists. At best,
he says, the new provisions will actually provide evildoers with a road map
to avoid detection.

What the new Patriot Act provisions are really about, says Ely, is to have
the United States fall into line with an international campaign being waged
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the
Financial Action Task Force against countries that serve as tax havens.
It's all about tax collection!

 Business Week also reported that private-sector software makers are racing
to develop programs to zero in on gambling. Business Week noted that, "the
feds have put casinos on notice that they're next in the line of security."
Now, how many terrorists have actually raised their funds in Las Vegas?

In mid-September 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of
Homeland Security held an expo in Washington. Medium and small firms from
across the nation were invited in to showcase the very latest in citizen
surveillance wares.

 The US Chamber of Commerce has hired the former deputy assistant to the
Joint Chiefs of Staff to act as a liaison between the chamber and
businesses seeking homeland security contracts. PoliticalMoneyline says
that 444 groups and individuals have registered as lobbyists to deal with
"terror" and "security" issues.

IBM has opened a "Government Solutions Center" in Vienna, Virginia. The
high-tech Unisys Corporation has established a similar exhibition for
inspection by federal surveillance planners, called the "Homeland Security
Center for Excellence."

 Both corporations are racing to cash in on billions of dollars for facial
recognition systems at airports and, in anticipation of "trusted traveler"
cards, a high-tech ID tied to extensive background checks and biometric
identification.

And finally this: with all of its new data banks, the Department of Justice
announced last March (2003) that accuracy is no longer a concern for the
building of one of the world's largest databases called the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC).

The NCIC has been exempted from the Privacy Act of 1974 that requires
information entered into government databases be timely, relevant, complete
and accurate.

Also exempt are two other Department of Justice databases, the Central
Records System and the National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime. The
rational for exempting some of the nation's largest databases is that
law-enforcement officers need bad data entered into NCIC in order to hurry
in solving cases.

 The "false hope," Mr. President, is that repealing our liberties in the
name of fighting terrorism will somehow lead to peace. Let the Patriot Act
die and keep the American dream alive.




About the Author:  Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese
Report and president of the American Policy Center: www.americanpolicy.org


-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'