Send you own Action Alert!
Mine is slightly edited from the default one that is provided by EFF.
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.
