Some press release and Electronic Frontier Foundation info.

Some press release and Electronic Frontier Foundation info.

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-10-08

Hi X,
Below is some civil liberties legislation issue related info.
*********
Anyone moved to contact their Senators and Representatives regarding
the stifling provisions of the following bills and draft bills should
please do so:

Ashcroft's "Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)"
Sen. Leahy's "Uniting and Strengthening of
     America Act (USAA)"
Rep. Smith's Public Safety and Cyber Security Enhancement Act
(PSCSEA, H.R. 2915)
Sen. Hatch's Combating Terrorism Act (CTA, amendment S.A. 1562 to
bill H.R. 2500)
Sen. Graham's Intelligence to Prevent Terrorism Act (IPTA, S.
     1448)
Sen. Gregg's draft anti-encryption legislation.
************************************************
Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT
(Issued: Wednesday, September 27, 2001 / Deadline: Friday, October 7,
2001, unless extended)

   San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) today condemned portions of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)
currently under consideration in Congress which would treat all
computer trespass as terrorism (in addition to other provisions we
oppose, such as vast expansion of surveillance authority).

   "Treating low-level computer crimes as terrorist acts is not an
   appropriate response to recent events," said EFF Executive Director
   Shari Steele. "A relatively harmless online prankster should not
face
   a potential life sentence in prison."

The ATA includes provisions that dramatically increase the
penalties for acts that have no apparent relationship to terrorism.
For instance, the bill would add low-level computer intrusion,
already a crime under other laws, to the list of "federal terrorism
offenses," creating penalties of up to life imprisonment, adding broad
pre-conviction asset seizure powers and serious criminal threats to
those who "materially assist" or "harbor" individuals suspected of
causing minimal damage to networked computers.

Attorney General John Ashcroft asked Congress last week to pass the
ATA, formerly known as the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act(MATA),
with less than one week of consideration.

EFF believes the ATA would radically tip the United States system
of checks and balances, giving the government unprecedented authority
to surveil American citizens with little judicial or other oversight.

What YOU Can Do Now:
     * Contact your own legislators about the ATA/MATA and related
bills AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Call them, and fax and/or e-mail the EFF
letter below (or your own) today. Postal mail will be too slow
on this issue. Feel free to use this letter verbatim, or modify
it as you wish. Let them know that you do not believe liberty must be
sacrified for security. Please be polite and concise, but firm.  For
information on how to contact your legislators and other government
officials, see EFF's "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers"
guide at: http://www.eff.org/congress.html

Sample Letter:
Use this sample letter to YOUR legislators or modify it, and send
to their Washington fax and e-mail, which you can get from Project
Vote Smart:
http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&style=

or the House:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html

and Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm

websites.

Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname]

I write as a constituent to express my gravest concern over
aspects of the Congressional response to the tragedies of September
11.  While I share your grief and anger in no uncertain terms, I do
not believe that sacrificing essential liberties in a vain hope of
improving security is good for America or the world. Security can be
improved without privacy invasion, and we cannot win an attack on
freedom by attacking that freedom ourselves.

I urge you to work to remove from anti-terrorism bills any
provisions that call for expanded wiretap powers or online
monitoring, warrantless pen register or trap and trace authority,
censorship, restrictions on encryption, warrantless "fishing
expeditions" in student or other records, or redefinition of
minor computer crimes as terrorism. While there is be a need for a
Congressional response to terrorism, vast expansion of the powers of
law enforcement and intelligence agencies to invade privacy is not an
appropriate part of that response.

Presently these bills and draft bills include A-G Ashcroft's Anti-
Terrorism Act (ATA); Sen. Leahy's Uniting and Strengthening of
America Act (USAA); Rep. Smith's Public Safety and Cyber Security
Enhancement Act (PSCSEA, H.R. 2915); Sen. Hatch's Combating
Terrorism Act (CTA, amendment S.A. 1562 to bill H.R. 2500); and
Sen. Graham's Intelligence to Prevent Terrorism Act (IPTA, S.1448),
and Sen. Gregg's draft anti-encryption legislation.

The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police
state, or otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of
defending that freedom from terrorist attack, or the terrorists
have already won. I also object to provisions being passed in
response to terrorism but which have nothing to do with terrorism,
such as "emergency" wiretaps against simple computer crime incidents
and the abuse of grand juries as tools for intelligence agencies, and
undermining of the very encryption that helps secure our
communications infrastructure from futher attack. This is a time for
careful consideration, not for passing legislation without debate or
careful consideration of the consequences.
*************
Our MAPC Press Release...
October 7th is the National Day of Action for Peace called by the War
Resisters League. In concert with this day, the Madison Peace Action
Coalition is organizing street theatre to call attention to impending
attempts to limit our civil liberties. The U.S. House Judiciary has already
approved restrictive legislation (H.R. 2975) and the U.S. Senate will be
acting on an even more repressive bill this coming week.
Among the bills most troubling provisions:
q Allow for indefinite detention of non-citizens, even if they have
successfully challenged a government effort to deport them.
q Minimize judicial supervision of federal telephone and Internet
surveillance by law enforcement authorities.
q Expand the ability of the government to conduct secret searches.
q Give the Attorney General and the Secretary of State the power to
designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations.
q Grant the FBI broad access to sensitive business records about individuals
without having to show evidence of a crime.
q Lead to large-scale investigations of American citizens for intelligence
purposes.
"Ten years from now, our fear is that the American public will look back to
this legislation and say, 'this is where we crossed the line to a
surveillance society,'" says Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU's
Washington National Office.
Participants in Sundays street theatre will be demonstrating effects of
loss of civil liberties. They will have duct tape covering their mouths,
handcuffs and prison attire. They will carry signs and literature protesting
this legislation. It will move from the UW Library Mall to the Civic Center,
the Federal Courthouse, the State Capitol, and finish at the City County
Building, with signs being left at each location.

Monday, October 08, 2001 8:04 AM

Some press release and Electronic Frontier Foundation info.