Support Sen. Feingold's Privacy Amendments.
Protect Privacy, Make Your Voice Heard!
CDT Privacy Policy
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Things are moving very fast on Capitol Hill. Legislation to expand government surveillance will be considered by the Senate (and maybe the House) on Thursday, October 11.
In the Senate, Sen. Russ Feingold is planning to offer amendments Thursday morning that will address some of the privacy concerns raised by the pending bills, by requiring government surveillance to be more focused and subject to meaningful judicial controls. Sen Feingold's amendments will address the USA Act, Senate Bill 1510. CDT supports the Feingold amendments.
You can make a difference. Call your Senators in Washington right away and let them know that you think civil liberties should be part of the balance as we move forward to protect our country from terrorism. Urge them to support the Feingold privacy amendments.
BACKGROUND
Following the horrendous attacks of September 11, it is clear that US anti-terrorism efforts need to be improved. Unfortunately, there has been little time to develop a response that is effective and does not unnecessarily infringe civil liberties. Legislation moving quickly through Congress involves some fundamental changes in the surveillance laws. Most of the changes are not limited to terrorism cases, but concern all crimes and all intelligence investigations.
Among other things, the bills would:
- Allow FBI to seize any and all stored records (medical records, educational records, stored e-mail) in intelligence cases without a search warrant.
- Allow computer system operators to authorize government surveillance without a court order (the computer trespasser provision).
- Authorize roving taps in intelligence cases without clear guidelines, allowing government to monitor pay phones, library computers, cell phones without first determining who is using the device.
- Allow secret searches (searches without notice at the time of the search) in all criminal cases.
- Extend government surveillance under minimal standards to broad categories of Internet data - all "routing, addressing and signaling information" (the "pen register" provision).
For full background the current civil liberties issues with the bill, please see CDT's latest policy post.
Also, the New York Times on October 10 explained the current situation in the Senate and Sen. Feingold's concerns.
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