I'm giving a talk in Barcelona on Wednesday about the USA PATRIOT Act, and so I've been boning up on EFF's analysis of this sweeping, unconstitutional law. Of particular help has been the clause-by-clause analyses that our staff attorney Kevin Bankston's been writing for EFFector, EFF's weekly newsletter. If you ever wondered what the big deal was about PATRIOT, Kevin's blurbs will explain it all — in bite-sized, layperson-friendly chunks.
Apologists justified the broad, civil-liberties corroding powers granted to the government under the USA PATRIOT Act by arguing that they would be used to put terrorists behind bars. Yet several provisions can be used against Americans in a wide range of investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism. Others are too vague, jeopardizing legitimate activities protected under the First Amendment. Worse, the Department of Justice has worked to expand and/or make permanent a number of these provisions — despite the fact that they were sold to the public as "temporary" measures and are scheduled to expire, or "sunset," in December of 2005.
