'Patriot' Act creates free-snoop zone

BY George, we need honest, reasoned debate around here and notfear-mongering, so anyone out there who suspects Attorney GeneralJohn Ashcroft of being a nincompoop is clearly aiding terrorists andgiving ammunition to America's enemies. Ashcroft says so, and ifthat's not reasoned debate, what is?

Under the high standards of reason set forth by Ashcroft, we areallowed to present correct information (those who present incorrectinformation, like some people in government, erode our nationalunity and diminish our resolve) as to what the attorney general isup to. While Operation Enduring Freedom continues in Afghanistan,enduring freedom is not looking so good here at home - and like theA.G., I would be the last to encourage people of goodwill to remainsilent in the face of evil.

Here is some correct information about enduring freedom:

* Ashcroft's urpily named Patriot Act permits government agentsto search a suspect's home without notification. In J. EdgarHoover's day, this was known as "a black-bag job." As Nat Hentoffreports in The Progressive: "A warrant would be required, but veryfew judges would turn a government investigator down in this time offear. Ashcroft's 'secret searches' provision can now extend to allcriminal cases and can include taking photographs, the contents ofyour hard drive and other property. This is now a permanent part ofthe law, not subject to any 'sunset review' by Congress."

Many of our tough-minded brethren, to whom it is perfectly clearthat less freedom equals more security, have dismissed complaints bysaying, after all, these measures only apply to noncitizens, andbesides, the worst parts of it will sunset in four years. Wrong.This means you, fellow citizens - if you happen to know someonewhose brother-in-law rented a garage apartment to a guy who knewsomeone who might be a terrorist. Benjamin Franklin said, "They thatcan give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safetydeserve neither liberty or safety." But I'm pretty sure Franklindidn't mean to aid terrorists, so please don't report him to theA.G.

* The expansion of wiretapping authority to computers simply putsprivacy in cyberspace in jeopardy without any concomitant gain tolaw enforcement. According to James X. Dempsey, deputy director ofthe Center for Democracy and Technology, neither Congress nor themedia have put all this together to see the breadth of the dragnet.

The government can now delve into personal and private records ofindividuals even if they cannot be directly connected to a terroristor foreign government. Bank records, e-mails, library records, eventhe track of discount cards at grocery stores can be obtained onindividuals without establishing any connection to a terroristbefore a judge. According to the Los Angeles Times, al-Qaida usessophisticated encryption devices freely available on the Internetthat cannot be cracked. So the terrorists are safe from cyber-snooping, but we're not.

* Ashcroft and Co. essentially say, "Trust us, we won't misusethese new laws." But in fact the FBI and the CIA have repeatedlyviolated such trust to spy on everyone from Martin Luther King Jr.to Jean Seberg. That's why the checks were there to begin with.

* According to an analysis of the Patriot Act by the ElectronicFreedom Foundation, the government made no showing that the previouspowers of laws enforcement and intelligence agencies to spy on U.S.citizens were insufficient to allow them to investigate andprosecute acts of terrorism: "Many provisions that, instead of[being] aimed at terrorism, are aimed at nonviolent, domesticcomputer crime. In addition, although many of the provisions appearaimed at terrorism, the government made no showing that the reasonsthey failed to detect the planning of the recent attacks or anyother terrorist attacks were the civil liberties compromised by thebill. The government may now spy on Web-surfing of innocentAmericans, including terms entered into search engines, by merelytelling a judge anywhere in the U.S. that the spying could lead toinformation that is 'relevant' to an ongoing criminalinvestigation."

The person spied on does not have to be the target of theinvestigation nor is probable cause required.

* The military tribunals idea is so bad the administration hasbeen backing up on it steadily, especially since Spain has alreadyannounced it won't turn over its al-Qaida suspects to a system soviolative of international standards. The Spaniards, who have beenfighting Basque terrorists for years, are not noticeably "soft onterrorism."

* Lest you think our only attorney general does not care aboutrights, I point out that when it comes to the 550 people he has"detained" since September, without evidence, without charges,without identification and without legal counsel, he so fullyrespects the Second Amendment rights of these noncitizens that hehas reversed the Justice Department's previous stand to forbid theFBI to check on their gun-purchase records in order to protect theirprivacy. Also, Ashcroft fully believes in the rights of the unborn.The born are on their own.

Ivins is a syndicated columnist.