131 Privacy 2
DOJ Position
• http://www.usdoj.gov/
“Visit DOJ's new website
www.lifeandliberty.gov, launched to
educate Americans about how we are
preserving life and liberty by using the
USA PATRIOT Act.”
• http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/
ACLU Position
• http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cf
m?ID=12126&c=207
“With great haste and secrecy and in the name
of the “war on terrorism,” Congress passed
legislation that gives the Executive Branch
sweeping new powers that undermine the Bill of
Rights and are unnecessary to keep us safe.
This 342-page USA PATRIOT Act was passed
on October 26, 2001, with little debate by
Members of Congress, most of whom did not
even read the bill.”
Bill of Rights
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized.
http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experie
nce/bill_of_rights.html
Privacy Act of 1974
(r) Report on new systems and matching programs
Each agency that proposes to establish or make a
significant change in a system of records or a matching
program shall provide adequate advance notice of any
such proposal (in duplicate) to the Committee on
Government Operations of the House of
Representatives, the Committee on Governmental
Affairs of the Senate, and the Office of Management and
Budget in order to permit an evaluation of the probable
or potential effect of such proposal on the privacy or
other rights of individuals.
See http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/privstat.htm and
http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/04_7_1.html
More from DOJ Website
The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of
1988 (Pub. L. No. 100-503) amended the Privacy Act to
add several new provisions. See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(a)(8)(13), (e)(12), (o), (p), (q), (r), (u) (2000). These provisions
add procedural requirements for agencies to follow when
engaging in computer-matching activities; provide
matching subjects with opportunities to receive notice
and to refute adverse information before having a benefit
denied or terminated; and require that agencies engaged
in matching activities establish Data Protection Boards to
oversee those activities. These provisions became
effective on December 31, 1989. OMB's guidelines on
computer matching should be consulted in this area. See
54 Fed. Reg. 25,818-29 (1989).
By the way, if you visit the DOJ site …
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PRIVACY AND SECURITY NOTICE
Thank you for visiting the Department of Justice's Web site and reviewing our privacy and security notice.
We remind you that if you link to a site outside of the Department of Justice, you are subject to the
policies of the new site.
PRIVACY
Here is how we handle information about your visit to our Web site:
A. Information Collected and Stored Automatically
If you visit our site to read or download information, we collect and store the
following information about your visit:
- The name of the Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account,
or "yourschool.edu" if you are connecting from a university's domain) and the IP address (a number that is
automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet) from which you access our site;
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This information is primarily collected for statistical analysis and technical improvements to the site. This
government computer system uses software programs to create summary statistics, which may be used for such
purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications,
and identifying system performance or problem areas. In certain circumstances, however, we may take additional
steps to identify you based on this information and we may share this information, including your identity, with
other government agencies.
The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
The date and time you access our site;
The Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our site; and
The pages you visit and the information you request.
The Wages of Fear: Sherman Austin gets a year
Steven Mikulan, LA Weekly, AUGUST 8 - 14, 2003
• “Austin, whose anarchist Web site, Raisethefist.com, had
aroused their interest when it posted a link to another
site offering bomb-making instructions.”
• “Sentence: 12 months in prison, a $2,000 fine and three
years’ probation.”
• “Austin will not, during those three years, be allowed to
sit in the same room with anyone who vents violent anti government rhetoric or to use a computer without the
okay of a probation officer — who will also have access
to Austin’s telecom bills.”
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=43956
GORE VIDAL / “We are the Patriots”
The Nation v.276, n.1, 2 June 2003
It was Benjamin Franklin, of all people, who saw our
future most clearly back in 1787, when, as a delegate to
the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, he read
for the first time the proposed Constitution. … Franklin
urged the convention to accept the Constitution despite
what he took to be its great faults, because it might, he
said, provide good government in the short term. "There
is no form of government but what may be a blessing to
the people if well administered, and I believe farther that
this is likely to be well administered for a course of years,
and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have
done before it, when the people shall become so
corrupted as to need despotic Government, being
incapable of any other."