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U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act

Katherine Martinez, Amber Castor, Alta Valliant, Shannon Keith. U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. The U niting and S trengthening A merica by P roviding A ppropriate T ools R equired to I ntercept and O bstruct T errorism Act of 2001.

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U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act

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  1. Katherine Martinez, Amber Castor, Alta Valliant, Shannon Keith U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001

  2. History of the Patriot ActPresented by Katherine Martinez • Historical Context • Passage of the Act • Dissenting Voices • Authorship • Temporary Measure? • Continued Dispute

  3. Historical Context Alien & Sedition Act, 1798; Japanese internment camps, 1942; Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 1996

  4. Passage • October 2, 2001 - Patriot Act introduced into Congress • October 26, 2001 - Patriot Act passed into law

  5. Dissent • Patriot Act passed 98-1 • Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) is the lone senator to vote against it • No one was allowed to read the bill prior to its passage

  6. Authorship • Viet Dinh • Board of Directors, News Corp. • Michael Chertoff • Secretary of Homeland Security

  7. Temporary Measures? • Sunset provisions - Patriot Act would end in 4 years • February 15, 2006 - Russ Feingold attempts to block renewal of the Patriot Act. He is defeated 96-3. • March 9, 2006 - President Bush signed reauthorization of Patriot Act

  8. Fight the Power that Be

  9. Continued Tug-of-War • May 20, 2003 - Viet Dinh testifies that libraries have only been contacted by federal authorities “approximately fifty times.”* • June 14, 2005 - The House of Representatives votes to block federal searches of bookstore and library records. • May 2, 2007 - The ALA fights to have libraries exempted from the Patriot Act’s provisions regarding NSLs (National Security Letters). * “DOJ Says It Has Never Used Key PATRIOT Provision.” The Center for Democracy & Technology website. 23 September 2003, http://www.cdt.org/security/usapatriot/030923cdt.shtml

  10. Positive Aspects of the Patriot ActPresented by Amber Castor

  11. Overview • Why is it needed? • Dispelling the Myths • Myth vs. Reality • Congressional Support • Moving Forward

  12. Why is it Needed? • Provides protection and security • Certain laws were outdated and needed revision • Defined new vocabulary for a changed world

  13. Dispelling the Myths • Many aspects of the Patriot Act have existed in previous laws and U.S. codes and have only been slightly modified to reflect changes in today’s society • Section 201 and 206 • Sections 219 and 220 • Not all of the provisions set forth in the Patriot Act have been the subject of controversy • Sections 319, 373, 805, and 806 • Sections 412 and 812

  14. Myth vs. Reality • Section 215—allows access to business records and other items under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) • Myth: The government is monitoring the library habits of ordinary citizens. • Reality: The scope of this section is very narrow. It must be explicitly authorized by a FISA court. Also, ordinary grand juries have had this power for years.

  15. Initial Congressional Support Source:http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/subs/p_congress.htm

  16. Continued Congressional Support Source: http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/subs/p_congress.htm

  17. Moving Forward • According to a 2004 USA Today article by Toni Locy, the Patriot Act is blurred in the public mind. • The public needs to be better educated on all aspects of the Patriot Act • The Patriot Act must be continually examined and revised in order to remain a viable tool in the war on terror.

  18. The Critical ViewPresented by Alta Valliant Your Civil Liberties are at Risk!

  19. Why you should just say NO to the Patriot Act • The “purpose” of the Patriot Act • Your Constitutional Rights are at Risk • Is this necessary? • People Fighting the Man • How to Protect Yourself • What you can do in YOUR library

  20. Purpose of the Patriot Act • To deter and punish American terrorists in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes • What does “other purposes” even mean? • Section 215 • Section 216

  21. The Patriot Act Infringes on your Constitutional Rights! • It violates the First Amendment by prohibiting those served with Section 215 orders from telling others, even when there is no real need for secrecy. Although, since the revision they are allowed to contact a lawyer. • It also violates the First Amendment by in effect authorizing the FBI to investigate U.S. persons, including American citizens, based in part on their exercise of First Amendment activity, and by authorizing the FBI to investigate non-U.S. persons based solely on their exercise of First Amendment activity.  • It violates the Fourth and Fifth Amendments because those who are the subject of Section 215 orders do not need to be told that their privacy has been compromised.

  22. The Patriot Act is NOT needed The government already has the authority to prosecute anyone whom it has probable cause to believe has committed or is planning to commit a crime. It also has the authority to engage in surveillance of anyone whom it has probable cause to believe is a foreign power or spy - whether or not the person is suspected of any crime.  – ACLU website

  23. Anti Patriot Act Patriots • ALA • State ALA Chapters • ACLU • Connecticut Librarians • Russ Feingold • Wisconsin Senator

  24. Protect yourself and your patrons • Know the law and your rights • Know your resoursesand how to use them • ALA & ACLU • Have a lawyer you can contact

  25. What you can do in your Library! • Set up a display about the Patriot Act • Post signs around telling patrons they could be monitored • Delete Internet logs once a week • Hold informational meetings, hand out flyers, talk with patrons • Don’t let the man get you down!

  26. Resources AvailablePresented by Shannon Keith • Web Resources • Positive • Negative • Neutral • Print Resources

  27. Web Resources Supportive Critical American Library Association: www.ala.org American Civil Liberties Union: http://action.aclu.org/reformthepatriotact/ • U.S. Department of Justice: www.lifeandliberty.gov • White House: www.whitehouse.gov

  28. Neutral Resources on the Web • Government Printing Office: www.gpo.gov • National Public Radio: www.npr.org

  29. Resources in Print • Refuge of a Scoundrel: The Patriot Act in Libraries by Herbert Foerstel • How Patriotic is the Patriot Act?: Freedom versus security in the age of Terrorism by AmitaiEtzioni • From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: a history of the fight for free speech in America, Christopher Finan

  30. “The inability of FBI investigators to use this seemingly effective tool has had a direct and clearly adverse impact on our terrorism cases. While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us use the tools given to us.“ ~FBI Agent

  31. Questions?

  32. Bibliography American Civil Liberties Union. USA Patriot Act. New York. http://action.aclu.org/reformthepatriotact/. American Library Association. USA Patriot Act and Intellectual Freedom. Chicago, 2006. www.ala.org/oif/ifissues/usapatriotact. Etzioni, Amitai. How Patriotic is the Patriot Act?: Freedom versus security in the age of Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2004. Finan, Christopher. From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: a history of the fight for free speech in America. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007. Foerstel, Herbert N. Refuge of a Scoundrel: The Patriot Act in Libraries. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. National Public Radio. Washington, www.npr.org. United States Department of Justice. Preserving Life and Liberty. Washington. http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/ The White House. USA Patriot Act. Washington. http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/patriotact/. AmitaiEtzione. http://amitaietzioni.org.

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