Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Panel Condemns Patriot Act's Procedures
The University of Washington-Seattle’s student newspaper The Daily reports that more than 70 people gathered in the university’s auditorium last night to hear former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper and four other panel members condemn parts of the U.S. Patriot Act as a threat to civil rights.
Justice Dept. Defends FBI on Patriot Act
At a time when questions about the use of National Security Letters have become caught up in the debate over renewal of the anti-terror Patriot Act, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the Justice Department has issued a broad defense of an investigative tool used by the FBI to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a court order or grand jury subpoena.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Groups Seek Stay on Internet Wiretap Implementation
According to The New Standard, “Groups working to restrict federal law enforcement agencies’ access to personal information asked the Federal Communications Commission last week to hold off on a recent decision requiring internet providers to open their systems to easier government wiretapping.”
Feds to Fund Controversial School Surveillance
Despite objections by critics who fear the effort will normalize electronic surveillance at an early age and condition young people to accept privacy violations, The New Standard reports, the US Department of Justice is quietly enticing school districts to implement controversial technologies that monitor and track students.
Rice Defends Prisoner Tactics
According to USA Today, “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday defended the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects as part of an unprecedented war to prevent massive attacks on civilians.” In the interview, Rice neither confirmed nor disavowed the existence of secret CIA prisons abroad that The Washington Post reported this month.
Miami Police Take New Tack Against Terror
"Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant," the USA Today reports. "Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats. 'This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there,' Fernandez said."
Strip-Search Case a Likely Topic at Alito Hearing
When Alito "was a member of a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he participated in a 2003 case involving the strip-search of a 10-year-old girl," FoxNews.com reports. "The judge's comments in that matter are likely to come up again in Senate confirmation hearings as detractors call it a case that puts him outside the mainstream."
Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity
The Washington Post reports, “The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.”
The FBI Plays Big Brother
This Toledo Blade editorial reports, “The FBI is behaving like Big Brother again, conducting surveillance on U.S. citizens without regard to the guidelines it is supposed to follow to keep its operations above board.”
Jose Padilla's America
This Los Angeles Times editorial reports on the significance of the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on whether to hear Jose Padilla’s case challenging presidential wartime powers during America’s War on Terror.
Group Seeks End to NYPD Taping Protests
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a civil rights group on Monday asked a federal judge to stop New York City police from routinely videotaping political demonstrations as part of efforts to fight terrorism.
Monday, November 28, 2005
U.S. Supreme Court Turns Down Appeal from Fired Translator Involved in Counterterrorism
FindLaw reports, "A former FBI translator failed Monday to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to revive her lawsuit alleging she was fired for reporting possible wrongdoing by other linguists involved in counterterrorism investigations."
Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity
The Washington Post reports, “The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.”
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Still Searching for a Strategy Four Years After Sept. 11 Attacks
The New York Times reports, “Four years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the government has yet to settle on a consistent strategy for holding and punishing people it says are terrorists.”
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Congress Puts Brakes on Patriot Act Renewal
The First Amendment Center reports, “Congress slowed the renewal of a central part of the administration’s war on terror late last week amid a standoff over how long to extend the USA Patriot Act and a filibuster threat by senators who want to curb powers the law would grant the FBI.”
Monday, November 21, 2005
Court Sides with Privacy Rights Group over Patriot Act FOIA
“Privacy rights advocates won another round in court this week, after a judge ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigations to obey federal law and deliver information on certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act provisions to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in a timely manner,” reports The New Standard.
City Officials Consider Surveillance Cameras to Curb Crime
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports, “Louisville city leaders hope the threat of being caught on video will help curb crime in some of the city's criminal hotspots.”
Friday, November 18, 2005
Extension of Patriot Act Faces Threat of Filibuster
According to the New York Times, “A tentative deal to extend the government's antiterrorism powers under the law known as the USA Patriot Act appeared in some jeopardy Thursday, as Senate Democrats threatened to mount a filibuster in an effort to block the legislation.”
Baltimore May Monitor Stop-Frisk Tactic
In response to a newspaper report that officers stopped and frisked citizens thousands of times but reported only 11 such stops to state authorities in the past year, Baltimore’s Mayor O’Malley called for better police record-keeping and training. Read more here.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Senators Threaten to Block Renewal of Antiterror Law
The New York Times reports, “A bipartisan group of senators threatened to derail the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act today, only hours after Congressional negotiators had seemed on the verge of an agreement to extend and keep largely intact its sweeping antiterrorism powers.”
Congress Moves to Speed Up Executions
Reuters reports, “Republicans in the U.S. Congress said on Wednesday they were moving ahead with legislation that would speed up executions in the United States by limiting the ability of those sentenced to death to appeal to federal courts.”
Measures to Undercut ‘Terrorism’ Stunt Charities’ Fundraising
“Government efforts to disrupt the funding of terrorist groups are imposing a large burden on domestic charities by forcing the organizations to spend more money and time on compliance measures, essentially taking money away from its intended beneficiaries, according to a report released last week by OMB Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog,” reports The New Standard.
Congress Nears Deal to Renew Antiterror Law
According to this New York Times article, “Congressional negotiators neared a final agreement Wednesday night on legislation that will extend and keep largely intact the sweeping antiterrorism powers granted to the federal government after the Sept. 11 attacks under the law known as the USA Patriot Act.”
EU to Build Network of Spy Satellites
According to The London Telegraph, the European Union announced its plan to build its own network of spy satellites allowing Brussels to ensure nations and private individuals are obeying its policies.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Patriot Act Deal May Cut FBI Power
CBS News reports that according to officials involved in the talks, “House and Senate negotiators struck a tentative deal on the expiring Patriot Act that would curb FBI subpoena power and require the Justice Department to more fully report its secret requests for information about ordinary people.”
Patriot Act Reauthorization Prompts Concern from Bar Association
According to The New Standard, American Bar Association President Michael S. Greco sent a letter to Congress outlining his organization’s concern over the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, stating that the ABA feels it is overbroad, undermines constitutional protections and gives too much leeway to intelligence agencies collecting information.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
How the FBI Tracks Eco-Terror Suspects
Newsweek reports, “The FBI collected detailed data on political activities and Web postings of suspected members of a tiny environmentalist commune in southern California two years ago as part of a high-profile counterterrorism probe.”
Google is Watching You
Kentucky’s Lexington Herald-Leader reports that search engines like Google have the ability to store mountains of information to build your personal profile. Read about how this could impact the future of your privacy.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Liberal Coalition Is Making Plans to Take Fight Beyond Abortion
The New York Times reports, “A coalition of liberal groups is preparing a national television advertising campaign against the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. that seeks to move the debate over his selection beyond abortion rights and focus instead on subjects like police searches and employment discrimination.”
Friday, November 11, 2005
Why Law Enforcement Should Have to Get a Warrant Before Tracking Us Via our Cell Phones
In this commentary, law professor Anita Ramasastry explains how two federal courts answered the question whether law enforcement personnel have to obtain warrants before they can track our movements in real time using “cell site data” from our cell phone companies.
Senate Approves Limiting Rights of U.S. Detainees
According to The New York Times, “The Senate voted Thursday to strip captured "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, of the principal legal tool given to them last year by the Supreme Court when it allowed them to challenge their detentions in United States courts.”
Goal of U.S. Inquiry into Peace Protest Questioned
The Des Moines Register reports, “Iowa peace activists say they have proof that federal authorities used the specter of terrorism last year to investigate local antiwar activities.”
White House Keeps Dossiers on More Than 10,000 'Political Enemies'
“Spurred by paranoia and aided by the USA Patriot Act,” the Capitol Hill Blue writes, “the Bush Administration has compiled dossiers on more than 10,000 Americans it considers political enemies and uses those files to wage war on those who disagree with its policies.” Read more.
Lawmakers Meet to Settle Differences on Patriot Act
The New York Times reports, “Lawmakers from the House and the Senate met for the first time Thursday to iron out differences over the sweeping antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act.”
Roberts Pushes for Patriot Act Subpoenas
Rebuffed by both chambers of Congress, Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan) on Thursday launched a new effort to expand the FBI's subpoena power in terrorism cases, reports The Washington Post.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Congress May Curb Some Patriot Act Powers
The Associated Press reports that Congress may be set to curb some of the police powers it gave to the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Supreme Court Considers Police Searches
“The Supreme Court considered whether police may search a home when one resident says to come in but another objects, in an unusually spirited debate Tuesday that even drew out the usually silent Justice Clarence Thomas,” reports The Associated Press.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Foreign-Born Scientists May Face Tighter Restrictions on Research
The Miami Herald reports that in an effort to bolster national security, the Department of Defense has presented new federal proposals that would significantly change how research is conducted at universities, placing tough restrictions on foreign-born scientists and tightening access to equipment and computers.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Supreme Court to Hear Tribunals Challenge
In what could be a major test of the government’s wartime powers, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider Salim Ahmed Hamdan’s challenge to the Bush administration's military tribunals for foreign terror suspects. The high court will decide whether Hamdan—Osama bin Laden's former driver—can be tried for war crimes before military officers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Washington Post has this report.
FBI Mines Records of Ordinary Americans
The FBI’s use of national security letters, which unlike traditional search warrants do not need the imprimatur of a prosecutor, grand jury, or judge, have increased a hundredfold since the passage of the Patriot Act. The bureau now issues more than 30,000 of the letters a year to sweep up the records of ordinary Americans by reaching into their telephone calls, correspondence and financial records. Read more.
Clarke Urges More Subway Searches
The Washington Post reports, “Former White House counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke says the random search by police of bags on New York subways is a program that should be copied in other cities.”
Senators Question Terrorism Inquiries
According to The Washington Post, “Lawmakers expressed concern yesterday that the FBI was aggressively pushing the powers of the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act to retrieve private phone and financial records of ordinary people.”
Friday, November 04, 2005
New FCC Order Resembles Big Brother
The University of Washington-Seattle’s student newspaper, The Daily, reports that the Federal Communications Commission has given law enforcement the ability to oversee the most innocuous of academic activities by issuing an order that extends the provisions of an 11-year-old wiretap law to include universities and libraries providing wireless Internet service.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Security Cameras Please Police, Disturb Civil Libertarians
“To the dismay of civil libertarians and with the approval of law enforcement,” The Chief Engineer reports that “surveillance cameras have been multiplying at a dizzying rate all over Manhattan.”
Judges Question Patriot Act in Library and Internet Case
According to The New York Times, “A panel of federal judges in Manhattan raised questions yesterday about secrecy provisions in the nation's antiterrorist act, expressing concerns that the act indefinitely silences those swept up in investigations.”
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Nominee's Past Rulings Give Hint of Tech Views
As News.com reports, while Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's confirmation hearings are certain to focus on hot-button constitutional issues such as his views on abortion, affirmative action and gun rights, a few cases suggest a permissive approach toward electronic surveillance by police.
Muslim Fans Say Giants Stadium Security, FBI Profiled them for Praying
The Associated Press reports, “Several Muslim football fans claim they were profiled and unfairly detained by stadium security personnel and the FBI at Giants Stadium during a game in September when they were seen praying, alarming other fans who considered their behavior suspicious.”
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Trial Set to Begin on NYC Subway Searches
“A top police official defended New York City's policy of screening subway riders Monday, testifying that the random searches are necessary to thwart terrorists who may target areas with few officers.” Read more.
