"Expansion of Patriot Act Criticized"

According to this:

The Justice Department is preparing to expand the 2001 Patriot Act to increase surveillance within the United States while restricting access to information and limiting judicial review, a nonprofit government watchdog group asserted Friday.

The Center for Public Integrity said it obtained a copy of the draft legislation from a government source. The document, labeled ``confidential,'' was posted Friday on the organization's Internet site along with an analysis [warning: 12Meg PDF file].

Justice Department officials said no final decisions have made on any such legislation, and it could change substantially before it is completed.

The Justice Dep't reply is in this PDF file here. It's a two paragrapher similar to the last paragraph of the excerpt above.

One of the provisions is this:

Section 501, "Expatriation of Terrorists": This provision, the drafters say, would establish that an American citizen could be expatriated "if, with the intent to relinquish his nationality, he becomes a member of, or provides material support to, a group that the United Stated has designated as a 'terrorist organization'." But whereas a citizen formerly had to state his intent to relinquish his citizenship, the new law affirms that his intent can be "inferred from conduct." Thus, engaging in the lawful activities of a group designated as a "terrorist organization" by the Attorney General could be presumptive grounds for expatriation.

Could that perhaps include Bill Gates? After all, Microsoft gave thousands of dollars to Benevolence International, which has since been declared a terrorist group. Sure, MS stopped making matching donations for their employees after they found out, but...

Privacy · Fri, 02/07/2003 - 21:53 · Importance: 1