U.S. cities, states fight PATRIOT Act

Information Management Journal, Sep/Oct 2003 by Swartz, Nikki

Two years after Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, state and local governments have launched multiple efforts to repeal it.

Passed by Congress soon after September 11, 2001, the legislation gives the government sweeping powers to monitor citizens suspected of having ties to terrorism. It authorizes the federal government to wiretap cell phones, check business records, monitor computer use, access financial records, and detain terrorism suspects without charging them with a crime.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has stated that law enforcement's ability to prevent another attack on American soil would be more difficult, if not impossible, without the PATRIOT Act. But critics say it threatens civil liberties.

According to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, three states Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont - plus more than 140 cities and counties have approved resolutions condemning the act. The movement seems to be gathering steam - 65 of those resolutions have been approved since April 1.

Resolutions against the act have passed in liberal college towns such as Ann Arbor, Michigan, in larger cities such as Philadelphia, and even in traditionally conservative cities like Oklahoma City.

In Berkeley, California, the public library director purges records of all returned books each day and erases the list of Web sites visited on the library's 50 Internet terminals. Officials in Portland, Oregon, have declined to cooperate with federal agents who may serve warrants that can remain secret under the PATRIOT Act. The Arcata, California, city council passed an ordinance in April barring city workers from enforcing the act.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is urging members of the book and library communities to contact their congressional representatives in support of an amendment that cuts off Justice Department funding for searches of bookstore and library records under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will offer the measure as an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations Bill of 2004. The bill, which has no number yet, is co-sponsored by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-Idaho).

Section 215 allows the government to seize individuals' business, library, and computer records in terrorism investigations without publicly disclosing that it has done so.

In March, Sanders introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157) "to restore the protections for customer privacy eliminated by the PATRIOT Act." The bill has gained wide support and is co-sponsored by 129 U.S. House of Representatives members. As we went to press, the House had not scheduled a hearing on it.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum, however, are increasingly criticizing the PATRIOT Act. The House recently voted to roll back a key provision of the act that enables the government to conduct secret searches of private property. The House voted to attach the provision to a $37.9 billion funding bill for the departments of Commerce, State, and Justice, marking the first change in the PATRIOT Act since it was passed. The provision blocks the Justice Department from using any funds to secretly search the homes of suspects without informing them of the investigation. According to the U.S. Constitution, the government cannot enter or search private property without first notifying the owner. In addition, Democrats recently defeated a push to extend the PATRIOT Act past 2005.

Criticism of the PATRIOT Act continued in July, when the American Civil Liberties Union joined several Arab-American and Islamic groups in filing the first lawsuit against the anti-terrorism law. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Detroit, argues that Section 215 of the act violates privacy, due process, free-speech rights, and constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.