polygon
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URGENT! Oppose the Administrative Subpoena Act
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Oct 14 04:25 UTC 2000 |
Urgent appeal from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) -- see
BOTH of the forwarded emails below for the complete story and most recent
status in Congress. This awful bill is on the fast track!
Larry Kestenbaum
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 15:52:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: mclark@cdt.org
To: polygon@potifos.com
Subject: ACTION: Oppose the Administrative Subpoena Act
Dear Activist:
Once again your civil liberties are under assault in Congress. This time,
the threat is in the form of legislation to expand the power of federal
agents to use so-called "administrative subpoenas" to seize your email,
financial records and other personal data without a court order and
without notice to you.
Make your voice heard - call your Senators and your Representative today
and urge them to oppose efforts to expand the administrative subpoena
authority of federal agents.
BACKGROUND - THE INCREDIBLE ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENA
Congress is considering a bill that would vastly expand the power of
federal agents to seize your email, your financial records, and other
personal data without your knowledge AND WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO GET A
JUDGE'S APPROVAL! This end-run around the Fourth Amendment is known as
an "administrative subpoena." In reality an "administrative subpoena"
is a piece of paper signed by an investigator. It can be served on your
ISP, your bank, your credit card company -- any business that has records
about you . The paper says, "Give me everything you have on John Q.
Citizen." It also says, "Don't notify your customer that his privacy
has been invaded." No judge ever sees the request. It doesn't even
have to be approved by a prosecutor.
No judicial review. No notice. No opportunity to object. Sound like a
blatant violation of due process and the Fourth Amendment's protection
against unreasonable privacy invasions? We think so. But this device
does exist on the books, mainly for administrative agencies. We think
it should be repealed, especially since in this digital era so much
information resides outside the home, in the hands of commercial
entities. Certainly, such extraordinary authority should not be
extended to law enforcement agencies.
CURRENT SITUATION IN CONGRESS
An expansion of administrative subpoena authority has already passed the
Senate in the bill S. 2516, "The Fugitive Apprehension Act." This bill
authorizes the use of administrative subpoenas by the FBI, DEA, INS or
any other agency within the Department of Justice to seize information
about fugitives. This bill also contains a "delayed notice" provision
permitting the government to obtain private records without telling the
individuals whose records have been seized that their privacy has been
invaded.
The definition of "fugitive" is very broad. It applies not only to
persons who have been convicted of crimes but also to those who have
merely been charged. It applies to felony and misdemeanor cases and to
state and federal cases. Altogether, this bill could apply to thousands
of investigations.
Of course, the government should be able to obtain information during the
investigation of a fugitive case. But to do so, it should obtain a
warrant or a subpoena issued with some judicial oversight. S. 2516 is a
blank check, with no meaningful controls.
WHAT YOU CAN DO--MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
* S. 2516 has already passed the Senate (with little debate or scrutiny).
It could come up in the House of Representatives at any time. So our
first goal is to tell Members of the House to reject S. 2516.
* It is also possible that the Senate would seek to pass S. 2516 a second
time by adding it to HR 3048, "The Presidential Protection Act of 2000"
or some other unrelated bill So we need to tell Senators to re-examine
S. 2516 and reject it if it is offered as an amendment to another bill.
1. Call your two Senators and your Representative in the House. Since this
issue could come up next in either body, it's important to contact all
three of your elected officials. They are:
- Senator Levin at (202) 224-6221
- Senator Abraham at (202) 224-4822
- Rep. Rivers at (202) 225-6261
Call their offices. Tell them your concerns. Use these words if you
feel tongue-tied:
Staffer: Hello, Senator _____'s office.
You: I'm calling to oppose the administrative subpoena provision in
S. 2516, the Fugitive Apprehension Act. Please tell my Senator
(Representative) to oppose any legislation giving federal agents
administrative subpoena authority. Administrative subpoenas are
issued without any judicial approval. They are inconsistent with
the Fourth Amendment. I am deeply concerned about my privacy and
do not believe the government should be given new, uncontrolled
powers to seize my email or my bank records.
Staffer: Thanks, bye!
2. Let CDT know how it went! Go to
http://www.cdt.org/action/feedback.cgi?membid=mi13, and use
the feedback form to tell us what happened. Or you can send an email
back to me at mclark@cdt.org.
3. Lastly, please forward this message to other individuals interested in
protecting privacy and free expression on the Internet until Friday,
October 20, 2000. They can find information about their Members of
Congress at http://www.cdt.org/action/s2516/.
The text of S. 2516 is at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:S.2516.ES:
If you have any comments on this action, or questions about it, feel
free to contact me. Michael
--
To subscribe to CDT's Activist Network, sign up at:
http://www.cdt.org/join/
If you ever wish to remove yourself from the list, unsubscribe at:
http://www.cdt.org/action/unsubscribe.shtml
If you just want to change your address, you should unsubscribe
yourself and then sign up again or contact: mclark@cdt.org
--
Michael Clark, Grassroots Webmaster
Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006
voice: 202-637-9800 fax: 202-637-0968
mclark@cdt.org http://www.cdt.org/
PGP Key available on keyservers
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 18:03:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: mclark@cdt.org
To: polygon@potifos.com
Subject: ACTION: Administrative Subpoena Bill Passes Senate; Action shifts to
House
Dear Activist:
Things are moving very fast on Capitol Hill. The administrative subpoena
bill we were concerned about passed the Senate this afternoon. In fact,
it was added to another bill giving the Secret Service administrative
subpoena authority in cases involving threats against the President.
So the action shifts back to the House, where there will be an effort to
take up the combined bill, HR 3048, on Tuesday.
BACKGROUND
S. 2516, the Fugitive Apprehension Act, was rolled into HR 3048, the
Presidential protection Act, and passed the Senate today. Sen. Patrick
Leahy added additional procedural safeguards to the bill, but it is still
another grant of authority to law enforcement agencies to access personal
data without judicial approval.
If anything, the provisions of HR 3048 granting the Secret Service
administrative subpoena authority are even worse than the provisions
in S. 2516, since the Secret Service could use the new authority in
investigations of mere SUSPECTS who've never had a probable cause
warrant issued against them, let alone been indicted or convicted.
Passage of HR 3048 would set a terrible precedent. We have been seeing a
proliferation of administrative subpoena authorities in recent years, and
this could really open the floodgates. Ours is supposed to be a system
of checks and balances. Investigators should not have the authority to
compel disclosure of private information without judicial oversight.
WHAT YOU CAN DO--MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
1. Call your your Member of Congress on Monday.
- Rep. Rivers at (202) 225-6261
Tell them your concerns. Use these words if you feel tongue-tied:
Staffer: Hello, Representative Rivers's office.
You: I'm calling to oppose the administrative subpoena bill HR 3048 (AKA
the "Presidential Protection Act"). Please tell my Representative to
oppose any legislation giving federal agents administrative subpoena
authority. Administrative subpoenas are issued without any judicial
approval. They are inconsistent with the Fourth Amendment. I am
deeply concerned about my privacy and do not believe the government
should be given new, uncontrolled powers to seize my email or my bank
records. HR 3048 may come up on the "suspension calendar." Please
urge my Representative to vote against it.
Staffer: Thanks, bye!
2. Let CDT know how it went! Go to
http://www.cdt.org /action/feedback.cgi?membid=mi13, and use
the feedback form to tell us what happened. Or you can send an email
back to me at mclark@cdt.org.
3. Lastly, please forward this message to other individuals interested in
protecting privacy and free expression on the Internet until Friday,
October 20, 2000. They can find information about their Members of
Congress at http://www.cdt.org/action/s2516/.
--
To subscribe to CDT's Activist Network, sign up at:
http://www.cdt.org/join/
If you ever wish to remove yourself from the list, unsubscribe at:
http://www.cdt.org/action/unsubscribe.shtml
If you just want to change your address, you should unsubscribe
yourself and then sign up again or contact: mclark@cdt.org
--
Michael Clark, Grassroots Webmaster
Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006
voice: 202-637-9800 fax: 202-637-0968
mclark@cdt.org http://www.cdt.org/
PGP Key available on keyservers
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