raven
|
|
EFF alert "Combating terrorism act" a threat to civil liberties? http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010919_eff_wiretap_alert.html
| 
Sep 21 03:11 UTC 2001 |
Here is the text verbatium from the eff's web site about the proposed
"comabating terrorism act," which could be backdoor to limiting our civil
liberties.
Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT
ALERT: Urge Congress to Legislate to Improve Security Not Eliminate
Freedoms
Congressional Response to Terrorism Threatens Privacy
(Issued: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 / Updated: Thursday, September 20 /
Deadline: Friday, September 21, 2001, unless extended)
Introduction:
(Updated to reflect name change of draft bill.)
San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today
criticized the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" (MATA), renamed later
the same day to "Anti-Terrorism Act" (ATA), proposed by the US Department
of Justice because many provisions of the law would dramatically alter the
civil liberties landscape through unnecessarily broad restrictions on free
speech and privacy rights in the United States and abroad. Your urgent
action is needed TODAY.
EFF again urged Congress to act with deliberation in approving only
measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting the
freedoms of Americans.
Attorney General John Ashcroft distributed the proposed Mobilization
Against Terrorism Act/Anti-Terrorism Act to members of Congress after
Monday's press conference at which he indicated that, among other
measures, he would ask Congress to expand the ability of law enforcement
officers to perform wiretaps in response to the terrorist attacks on the
United States on September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked Congress to pass
anti-terrorism legislation including "expanded electronic surveillance" by
the end of this week.
EFF believes this broad legislation would radically tip the United States
system of checks and balances, giving the government unprecedented
authority to surveil American citizens with little judicial or other
oversight.
Ashcroft's proposed legislation comes in the wake of the Senate's hasty
passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act" (CTA) on the evening of September
13 with less than 30 minutes of consideration on the Senate floor.
The ATA/MATA is currently a draft bill, expected to be introduced and
rammed through Congress within the next two days. The CTA is presently a
Senate-passed amendment to a House appropriations bill. It is expected to
be voted on in joint conference committee this week, or early next week at
the latest. The House has already passed the "base" bill, while the Senate
has passed it plus the wiretapping amendment. The House delegates several
Representatives to meet with several Senators in conference committee, who
will collectively decide what amendments the final, joint version will
include. This final version is then voted on by the full House and Senate.
This only real pressure point on the CTA is the conference committee;
whatever emerges will almost certainly pass both houses near-unanimously.
What YOU Can Do Now:
Contact your own legislators about the ATA/MATA and the CTA AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE. Call them, and fax and/or e-mail the EFF letter below today.
Postal mail will be too slow on this issue. Feel free to use this letter
verbatim, or modify it as you wish. Let them know that you do not believe
liberty must be sacrified for security. Please be polite and concise, but
firm. For information on how to contact your legislators and other
government officials, see EFF's "Contacting Congress and Other
Policymakers" guide at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
Contact the conference committee members about the CTA AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE. A similar sample letter for this purpose, plus contact
information, is provided below.
Join EFF! For membership information see:
http://www.eff.org/support/
Sample Letters:
There are two sample letters below, one to your own legislators, and one
to the conference committee members.
Use this sample letter to YOUR legislators or modify it, and send to their
Washington fax and e-mail, which you can get this from Project Vote Smart:
http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&style=
or the House:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
and Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm
websites. You can also look up your Representative with this form:
Enter your Zip Code and State in the fields below and click on Submit.
ZIP +4 (if required) State Choose OneAlabamaAlaskaAmerican
SamoaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of
ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaGuamHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaM
aineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNeva
daNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth
DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaPuerto RicoRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth
DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirgin IslandsVirginiaWashingtonWest
VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname]
I write as a constituent to express my gravest concern over aspects of the
Congressional response to the tragedies of September 11. While I share
your grief and anger in no uncertain terms, I do not believe that
sacrificing essential liberties in a vain hope of improving security is
good for America or the world. Security can be improved without privacy
invasion, and we cannot win an attack on freedom by attacking that freedom
ourselves.
I urge you to vote AGAINST H.R. 2500 should it emerge from conference
committee with amendment S.A. 1562, the Combating Terrorism Act, attached,
and to vote against the forthcoming Mobilization Against Terrorism Act
a.k.a. Anti-Terrorism Act, and any similar legislation expanding wiretap
powers, online monitoring, warrantless pen register or trap and trace
authority, censorship, or restrictions on encryption.
The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police state, or
otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of defending that freedom
from terrorist attack, or the terrorists have already won. This is a time
for careful consideration, not for passing legislation without debate or
careful consideration of the consequences.
I specifically object to S.A. 1562 sections 816, 832, 833, and 834, and
any similar measures, such as those proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft,
as well as recent calls for measures that would thwart Americans' use of
secure encryption. I also object to provisions being passed in response to
terrorism but which have nothing to do with terrorism, such as "emergency"
wiretaps against simple computer crime incidents and the abuse of grand
juries as tools for intelligence agencies.
Sincerely,
[Your name & address]
(Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the
correct name.)
Use this sample letter below to conference committee members or modify it,
and send to all of the following:
Representatives:
Name (State), Phone (202-225-####), Fax (202-22#-####), E-mail
Frank Wolf (VA), 5136, 5-0437, none
Hal Rogers (KY), 4601, 5-0940, talk2hal@mail.house.gov
Jim Kolbe (AZ), 2542, 5-0378, none
Charles Taylor (NC), 6401, none, repcharles.taylor@mail.house.gov
Ralph Regula (OH), 3876, 5-3059, repregula@workinohio.org
Tom Latham (IA), 5476, 5-3301, latham.ia05@mail.house.gov
Dan Miller (FL), 5015, 6-0828, none
David Vitter (LA), 3015, 5-0739, david.vitter@mail.house.gov
Jos
Serrano (NY), 4361, 5-6001, jserrano@mail.house.gov
Alan Mollohan (WV), 4172, 5-7564, none
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), 1766, 6-0350, none
Robert Cramer (AL), 4801, 5-4392, budmail@mail.house.gov
Patrick Kennedy (RI), 4911, 5-3290, patrick.kennedy@mail.house.gov
For Representatives that don't provide a direct e-mail address, use this
form:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Senators:
Name (State), Phone (202-224-####), Fax (202-224-####), E-mail
Robert Byrd (WV), 3954, 228-0002, senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov
Patrick Leahy (VT), 4242, 3479, senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Ted Stevens (AK), 3004, 2354, senator_stevens@stevens.senate.gov
Mitch McConnell (KY), 2541, 2499, senator@mcconnell.senate.gov
Ernest Hollings (SC), 6121, 4293, none
Daniel Inouye (HI), 3934, 6747, senator@inouye.senate.gov
Barbara Mikulski (MD), 4654, 8858, senator@mikulski.senate.gov
Herb Kohl (WI), 5653, 9787, senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov
Patty Murray (WA), 2621, 0238, senator_murray@murray.senate.gov
Jack Reed (RI), 4642, 4680, jack@reed.senate.gov
Judd Gregg (NH), 3324, 4952, mailbox@gregg.senate.gov
Pete Domenici (NM), 6621, none, senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov
Kay Hutchison (TX), 5922, 0776, senator@hutchison.senate.gov
Ben Campbell (CO), 5852, 1933, none
Thad Cochran (MS), 5054, 9450, senator@cochran.senate.gov
Sen. Hollings can be e-mailed via the Web at:
http://www.senate.gov/~hollings/webform.html
Sen. Campbell provides no public e-mail mechanism of any kind.
HTML version with clickable e-mail address hotlinks:
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010919_eff_wiretap_alert.html#cong
Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname] and Other H.R. 2500 Conference Committee Members:
I write to express my gravest concern over aspects of the Congressional
response to the tragedies of September 11. While I share your grief and
anger in no uncertain terms, I do not believe that sacrificing essential
liberties in a vain hope of improving security is good for America or the
world. Security can be improved without privacy invasion, and we cannot
win an attack on freedom by attacking that freedom ourselves.
I specifically object to H.R. 2500 amendment S.A. 1562, the Combating
Terrorism Act, sections 816, 832, 833, and 834, and any similar measures,
such as the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act a.k.a. Anti-Terrorism Act
proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft, as well as recent calls for
measures that would thwart Americans' use of secure encryption. I also
object to provisions being passed in response to terrorism but which have
nothing to do with terrorism, such as "emergency" wiretaps against simple
computer crime incidents and the abuse of grand juries as tools for
intelligence agencies.
I urge you to vote AGAINST incorporating the above-mentioned sections of
S.A. 1562 into the final version of H.R. 2500, and to vote against any
similar amendments expanding wiretap powers, online monitoring,
warrantless pen register or trap and trace authority, censorship, or
restrictions on encryption.
The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police state, or
otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of defending that freedom
from terrorist attack, or the terrorists have already won. This is a time
for careful consideration, not for passing legislation without debate or
careful consideration of the consequences.
Sincerely,
[Your name & address]
(Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the
correct name.) If one of the conference committee members if your Rep. or
Sen., mention that you are a constituent, as in the first letter.)
Non-US Activists
Non-US readers can probably have little impact on the US Congress's votes
on these matters, and could even affect them negatively. Your best course
of action is to contact your own legislators/parliamentarians and urge
them to avoid similar policies in your own country.
Privacy Campaign:
This drive to contact your legislators about unprecedented wiretap power
expansion is part of a larger campaign to highlight how extensively
companies and governmental agencies subject us to surveillance and share
and use personal information online & offline, and what you can do about
it.
Check the EFF Privacy Now! Campaign website regularly for additional
alerts and news:
http://www.eff.org/privnow/
Background:
One particularly egregious section of the DOJ's analysis of its proposed
legislation says that "United States prosecutors may use against American
citizens information collected by a foreign government even if the
collection would have violated the Fourth Amendment."
"Operating from abroad, foreign governments will do the dirty work of
spying on the communications of Americans worldwide. US protections
against unreasonable search and seizure won't matter," commented EFF
Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien.
Additional provisions of the proposed Mobilization Against Terrorism Act
(MATA)/Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) include measures which:
make it possible to obtain e-mail message header information and Internet
user web browsing patterns without a wiretap order;
eviscerate controls on roving wiretaps;
permit law enforcement to disclose information obtained through wiretaps
to any employee of the Executive branch;
reduce restrictions on domestic investigations under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA);
permit grand juries to provide information to the US intelligence
community;
permit the President to designate any "foreign-directed individual, group,
or entity," including any United States citizen or organization, as a
target for FISA surveillance;
prevent people from even talking about terrorist acts;
establish a DNA database for every person convicted of any felony or
certain sex offenses, almost all of which are entirely unrelated to
terrorism;
EFF Executive Director Shari Steele emphasized, "While it is obviously of
vital national importance to respond effectively to terrorism, this bill
recalls the McCarthy era in the power it would give the government to
scrutinize the private lives of American citizens."
During the Congressional session considering the Combating Terrorism Act,
which was introduced as amendment S.A. 1562 to an omnibus appropriations
bill, H.R. 2500, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed concern that he
was asked to vote so rapidly on such important legislation within minutes
of receiving it and without conducting hearings in the Intelligence, Armed
Services and Judiciary committees:
Maybe the Senate wants to just go ahead and adopt new abilities to wiretap
our citizens. Maybe they want to adopt new abilities to go into people's
computers. Maybe that will make us feel safer. Maybe. And maybe what the
terrorists have done made us a little bit less safe. Maybe they have
increased Big Brother in this country.
If that is what the Senate wants, we can vote for it. But do we really
show respect to the American people by slapping something together,
something that nobody on the floor can explain, and say we are changing
the duties of the Attorney General, the Director of the CIA, the U.S.
attorneys, we are going to change your rights as Americans, your rights to
privacy? We are going to do it with no hearings, no debate. We are going
to do it with numbers on a page that nobody can understand.
EFF shares Senator Leahy's concerns in this time of national crisis. EFF
Legal Director Cindy Cohn commented, "These proposals significantly impact
the civil liberties of Americans. We urge legislators to please slow down
and consider the long-term consequences of your votes."
"I believe that deep in their souls, Americans understand that the reason
this country is so great--is so worth defending--is because it is free,"
explained EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "We should be very careful
to make sure that any legislation that passes is truly needed to address
national security concerns."
During World War I, the US Congress hastily passed the Espionage Act which
was notorious for decreasing freedoms without improving the security of
the American public, under which Congress granted the Postmaster General
(who delegated it to 55,000 local postmasters) the authority to read any
mail and remove any material that might "embarrass" the government in
conducting the war effort.
The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act a.k.a. Mobilization Against Terrorism Act:
http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_proposal.html
EFF analysis of the ATA/MATA bill [coming soon]:
http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_ashcroft.html
Attorney General John Ashcroft's remarks on response to terrorism from FBI
headquarters on September 17, 2001:
http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_statement.html
The relevant portions of the Combating Terrorism Act (CTA), amendment S.A.
1562 of bill H.R. 2500, passed by the Senate:
http://www.eff.org/sc/wiretap_bill.html
To read the entire provisions from Congress's legislation server, go to:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:h.r.2500.pp:
They are the very last three sections on the page.
Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html
EFF analysis of the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_wiretap_bill_analysis.html
Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security:
http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf
EFF Surveillance Archive:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society.
EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most
linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org
Contact:
Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director
ssteele@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x103
Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney
tien@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x102
|