The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) yesterday announced a
$3.5 million nationwide campaign to "safeguard" the civil liberties
that it says have been targeted by the Bush Administration and
Attorney General Ashcroft, since the September 11th atrocities. The
campaign is primarily targeting the Patriot Act, which was passed a
year ago this month and extended police powers to intercept
communications.
The campaign started yesterday with the airing of a television
spot that "graphically illustrates" how Attorney General John
Ashcroft's hands are "editing and cutting out portions" of the US
constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Before the enactment of the US Patriot Act, police could monitor
phone calls after judicial order that allowed the retrieval of
dialled numbers but not the contents of communications.
The new law extended these powers to all "wire, oral and
electronic communications", allowing the police to identify a
suspect's e-mail correspondents. Police can also obtain a list of
web sites visited by a suspect.
The ACLU claims that the extension of police interception powers
to the internet was "a terrible mistake" because URLs "give far
more content than a string of telephone numbers."
Attorney General John Ashcroft said that he "welcomes the
debate."
More information about the ACLU campaign is available
from:
www.aclu.org
The US Patriot Act 2001 can be found at:
www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html
