EFF Action Alert: Call for PATRIOT Review, Not Expansion

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Mine is slightly edited from the default one that is provided by EFF.

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I am writing to urge you to oppose the Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Tools Improvement Act (H.R. 3179). This bill would expand the USA PATRIOT Act with serious implications for privacy and civil liberties. I believe that any consideration of an expansion to PATRIOT should be postponed until there has been a thorough, public review of how the law has been used to date.

The brochure that the Department of Justice has published has none of this information, and in some cases contradicts testimony given by Mr Ashcroft himself before the 9-11 Commission.

H.R. 3179 would strengthen the enforcement provisions for National Security Letters (NSLs), which allow the FBI secretly to obtain an individual's private records even if he or she is not suspected of a crime. This secret power to obtain phone, Internet, and financial records was already expanded by PATRIOT, and Congress should evaluate the impact of this change before granting additional powers.

People like to say that 9-11 changed everything. One thing it didn't change is that people in this country are innocent until proven guilty. There are already legal procedures in place for obtaining information about people that are innocent but suspected of being guilty. If the FBI is simply too lazy to gather enough information for a court order, is the information really that vital?

Further, H.R. 3179 would amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to authorize surveillance of individuals who are not affiliated with any foreign government or terrorist group. FISA was meant to address espionage by foreign powers, and its application to unaffiliated individuals would likely violate the Fourth Amendment.

Did 9-11 change our constitution as well?

Public criticism of the PATRIOT Act has been growing steadily. PATRIOT reform bills are being considered by Congress, and a number of provisions are scheduled to expire next year. This political season is not the time to allow an end-run around the deliberative process. Please oppose H.R. 3179, and support a thorough congressional review of PATRIOT's uses to date. Thank you for your time.

EFF Action Alert: Don't Fund the War on File Sharing

You can take action to!

I am writing to express my opposition to the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004 (PDEA, HR 4077). HR 4077 would divert taxpayer dollars and direct federal law enforcement agencies to fight the entertainment industry's misguided war on file sharing. It would also create the first criminal copyright penalties for people who aren't engaged in willful criminal conduct. Under the law's murky "negligence" standard, a person with 1,000 legally obtained songs could be sent to jail for three years if she fails to lock them up tight enough. I believe that these measures are an egregious misuse of federal resources, and I hope you will oppose this bill.

Copyright holders already have an extraordinary array of legal tools at their disposal for fighting infringement. Copyright law that expands liability to innocents is not the answer to the conflict over P2P.

Instead of criminalizing the activity of 60 million American filesharers, we should be looking for positive solutions that compensate artists. For example, a collective licensing regime could legalize file sharing while generating revenue for artists. Here are several examples of such a plan, two of which can be found in the New York Times:

• EFF: A Better Way Forward
• NYT Op-Ed: Share the Music By Kembrew Mcleod
• NYT Op-Ed: Don't Beat Them, Join Them By William Fisher

I am also opposed to HR 4077's proposed "education" program. If government is to educate the public about copyright, the curriculum must be balanced. The public has a broad range of rights to use copyrighted material, and omitting them is misleading and counterproductive.

As a constituent and a taxpayer, I hope you will agree that HR 4077 is an inappropriate use of government resources. Please oppose HR 4077 and instead look for a better way forward. Thank you for your time.

Three Cheers for Government Regulation

Congressman Herger recently voted aye for an increase in fines to "curb indecency over the airwaves." Behold H.R. 3717 (aka the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004)! The Senate version raises the fine by a factor of ten (from $27,500 to $275,000). But the House would not be outdone and went straight to the nice round number of $500,000. Both passed and will be worked out in conference.

But of course a bump to the Federal Minimum Wage would hurt business...

Wally on Reagan's Passing

Wally had some kind words for former President Reagan.

"President Reagan's passing is a merciful thing for his family and all of his loved ones," said Congressman Wally Herger. "President Reagan will be remembered as the man most responsible for bringing down the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism. He will go down in history as one of our nation's greatest and most loved leaders."

Herger said that President Reagan was one of the main reasons he ran for public office. "He was a role model for me when I was first elected."

"Ronald Reagan brought hope and a positive attitude to Americans at a time when our nation most needed it during the late 1970s and 1980s," Herger said. He always believed in the American dream."

How Reagan receives credit for the demise of Soviet Communism is wrapped around his deep faith and belief in prayer and the power of God.

Wally Responds: The Patriot Act

Last month I asked Wally in an e-mail if he had voted for the Patriot Act. There is no record of who voted for it since it was a voice vote. It must have been too important to take down who actually voted for it. Well, today came the very heavy response.

Turning now to the USA PATRIOT Act. Thank you, also, for contacting me on this important piece of legislation. Enclosed please find several reports prepared by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service detailing this very important legislation. I hope that you find the information useful.

Enclosed were the following:

• Terrorism: Section by Section Analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act (PDF), CRS Report for Congress RL31200, updated December 10, 2001.
• The USA PATRIOT Act: A Legal Analysis (PDF), CRS Report for Congress RL31377, April 15, 2002.
• USA Patriot Act Sunset: Provisions That Expire December 31, 2005 (PDF), CRS Report for Congress RL32186, January 2, 2004.
• CRS Analysis: Libraries & the PATRIOT Act (PDF File)

While I'm sure this will be great reading, it doesn't really answer my question. I guess I will have to call his office.

They Work For You

It's like Wally Watch, only bigger, better and applies to every MP in the British House of Commons. They Work For You. It couldn't have been named better.

Wally Responds: DMCA Reform

DMCA is clearly not an issue that Wally cares or knows a lot about. To be fair, copyright wonking isn't for everyone.

May 26, 2004

Dear Patrick:

Thank you for contacting me regarding legislation to reform the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyrights Act. I appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

As you may know, Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital copyright infringement and educating the public about the rights of copyright holders.

Representatives Rick Boucher and Zoe Lofgren have introduced legislation in the 108th Congress to address this issue. H.R. 107, the "Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003," seeks to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to provide that the advertising or sale of a mislabeled copy-protected music disc is an unfair method of competition and an unfair and deceptive act or practice. Following introduction, H.R. 107 was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

While I do not serve on the committees of jurisdiction over this measure, please be assured I will continue to monitor this issue. Should it come to a vote in the House of Representatives, I will keep your views uppermost in mind.

Again, thank you for contacting me on this important issue. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.

Sincerely,
Wally

Original Action Alert