What is the Patriot Act?

Question

Ive been try to follow the advantages and disadvangtes of the PATRIOT ACT? Can anyone explain it, cause I dont get.

Answer 1

The Patriot Act does not spy on Americans as some would have you believe. It gives our government permission to check phone calls between the U.S. and a known terrorist and/or terrorist country. No one is interested in my three-hour phone calls to my best friend.

President Bush has not gotten a fair deal from the press. Very few people give him credit for the fact that we have had no further attacks since Sept. 2001 and some attacks have been prevented.

This is the official description of the Patriot Act as opposed to that put forth by Wikipedia - which has nothing to do with Webopedia - and in which anyone can write anything.


http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/highlights.htm

Answer 2

It's simple.. Bush took a bunch of Acts that were already in place and clumped them into one Act and called it the Patriot Act...- it's not the big deal that people make it out to be...everything in the Patriot Act.. had already been law years prior- the second one.. is a bit worse however.. he put a clause in there that said something like.. American Citizens could lose their citizenship if accused of terrorism and deported to foreign countries..where do you deport and American Citizen.... there is also a clause in there that says something like that they President doesn't have to seek Congresses approval in time of war, or something like that....

Answer 3

Bad, very Bad.


USA PATRIOT Act controversy:

1. 2007 US Justice Department audit finds FBI abuse of PATRIOT act powers.
On March 9, 2007, a Justice Department audit found that the FBI had "improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information" about United States citizens.

2. Dismissal of United States Attorneys.
The firings were enabled by the The USA Patriot Act Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, which was signed into law on March 9, 2006

3. Investigating copyright infringement.
The USA PATRIOT Act amended the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to include search and seizure of records from Internet Service Providers.

4. Use against the homeless.
Summit, New Jersey invoked the USA PATRIOT Act to defend itself from a lawsuit over removing homeless people from its train station.

5. Investigation of potential drug traffickers.
In September 2003, the New York Times reported on a case of the USA PATRIOT Act being used to investigate alleged potential drug traffickers without probable cause. The article also mentions a study by Congress that referenced hundreds of cases where the USA PATRIOT Act was used to investigate non-terrorist alleged future crimes.

6. Blanket requests for financial information on visitors to Las Vegas.
In November 2005, Business Week reported that the FBI had issued tens of thousands of "National Security Letters" and had obtained one million financial records from the customers of targeted Las Vegas businesses.

7. Wrongful accusations under the Act.
In May 2004, Professor Steve Kurtz of the University at Buffalo reported his wife's death of heart failure. The associate art professor, who works in the biotechnology sector, was using benign bacterial cultures and biological equipment in his work.
FBI agents used a USA PATRIOT Act "sneak and peek" search to secretly examine the home of Brandon Mayfield, who was wrongfully jailed for two weeks on suspicion of involvement in the Madrid train bombings.

8. Controversial requests to the media.
The FBI used the USA PATRIOT Act multiple times to request journalists that had interviewed computer intruder Adrian Lamo to preserve their notes and other information while they petitioned the Department of Justice for a subpoena to force the reporters to hand over the information. Journalists involved included newspaper writers and MSNBC writers. The Department of Justice did not authorize any of the subpoena requests, not because of protection of the media, but because the language of the subpoena violated the Department's guidelines for a subpoena request. The requests to preserve information were dropped. In some cases, the FBI apologized for the language of the request.

9. Ect ......

Answer 4

Its a demostic spying unauthorized by the Bush admin. to spy on the American People. Phones, internet, ect. To prevent further Terror plot or attacks within the country.

Answer 5

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-56), known as the USA PATRIOT Act or simply the Patriot Act, is an American act which President Bush signed into law on October 26, 2001. The Act passed in the Senate by a vote of 98 to 1, and in the House by a vote of 357 to 66.

Originally passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York, New York; the Act (full text) was formed in response to the terrorist attacks against the United States, and dramatically expanded the authority of American law enforcement for the stated purpose of fighting terrorism in the United States and abroad. It has also been used to detect and prosecute other alleged potential crimes, such as providing false information on terrorism. Federal courts have ruled that some provisions are unconstitutional infringements on civil liberties. It was renewed on March 2, 2006 with a vote of 89 to 11 in the Senate and on March 7 280 to 138 in the House. The renewal was signed into law by President Bush on March 9, 2006.

On March 9, 2007, the US Justice Department released an internal audit that found that the FBI had acted illegally in its use of the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens.





President George W. Bush signing the USA PATRIOT Act in the White House's East Room on October 26, 2001.Among laws which the USA PATRIOT Act has amended are immigration laws, banking laws, and money laundering laws. It also amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

With respect to terrorism definitions, for example, section 802 of the Act created the new crime category of "domestic terrorism." According to this provision, which is found in the U.S. criminal code at 18 U.S.C. § 2331, domestic terrorism means activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the U.S. or of any state, that (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.

Section 2331 also includes the crime of international terrorism, which is identical to domestic terrorism, except that it transcends national boundaries. But this provision predates the Act.

Other terrorism definitions are found in section 411 of the Act, which amends sections 212 and 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (which is INA sec. 212) relates to "Excludable Aliens." This is where the definitions of "terrorist activity" and "terrorist organization" may be found. 8 U.S.C. § 1189 (INA s. 219) provides for the designation of foreign terrorist organizations.

These provisions interact with other provisions in the criminal code, for example, 18 U.S.C. § 2339A and 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, which criminalize "material support" to terrorists and to foreign terrorist organizations, respectively, drawing on the INA terrorism definitions.

In 1978, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was passed to produce legal guidelines for federal investigations of foreign intelligence targets. Among the rules put in place were regulations governing:

Electronic Surveillance
Physical Searches
Pen registers and Trap and trace devices for Foreign Intelligence Purposes
Access to certain Business Records for Foreign Intelligence Purposes
In addition to defining how foreign intelligence investigations were to be performed, FISA also defined who could be investigated. Only foreign powers or agents of foreign powers were to be subject to FISA investigations. Thus, targets are primarily those foreign persons who are engaged in espionage or international terrorism. Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, expanded FISA to permit targeting of so-called "lone wolf" terrorists without requiring any showing that they are members of a terrorist group or agents of such a group or of any other foreign power.

The USA Act (Public Law 107-56) was passed on October 12, 2001, and subsequently folded into the USA PATRIOT Act. Under the USA Act, a terrorist who was not an agent of a foreign power could be the target of a federal investigation of foreign intelligence.

Answer 6

(m)

Federal law with many aspects designed to curb terrorist activities; impacts real estatetransactions because of disclosure requirements imposed on escrow agents regarding transfer of title and deposits of cash; imposes new disclosure and signature requirements for buyers and sellers.

Answer 7

http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/

info on the act is on this website. I'm not sure myself though.