Chaos Magnet

Some new info from the

Some new info from the ACLU today.

First, an opportunity to thank (or spank) your representative for the overwhelming victory of the Otter Amendment, which, should the spending bill that it's attached to pass, "would effectively prohibit implementation of one of the most controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act, which permitted federal agents to obtain sneak and peek warrants in any criminal case, whether or not related to terrorism. Sneak and peek or 'black bag' warrants, as they are also called, allow agents to search homes, confiscate certain types of property and essentially bug computers without notifying the subject of the search that it is happening." The ACLU's system will tell you whether or not your representative voted for the amendment. (Thank you, Mike Bilirakis, R-FL!)

Next, the US Treasury is seeking comments on a proposal to end the ability for immigrants to open a bank account using foreign identification. How is this supposed to make us safer, exactly? It's not, that's how. All it's going to do is force immigrants to find other ways of banking that, because they are out of the traditional banking system, will now be completely untraceable. But this isn't about safer banking, anyway. It's about justification for a National ID card for non-citizens. Citizens will be next.

Finally, "ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson will conduct a live online chat Thursday [July 31, 2003] from 1-2 p.m. (ET) about the FBI's broad new surveillance powers under the USA PATRIOT Act. "