Wednesday, June 08, 2011

There’s a Secret Patriot Act?

Two weeks ago Spencer Ackerman wrote There’s a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says. "“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden told Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.” What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can’t precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called “business-records provision,” which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any “tangible things” it deems relevant to a security investigation."

I know the Patriot Act was renewed but I don't know about any specific provisions. I read it the first time around, I haven't read it since. Some of the law was understandable, other parts I really needed the ACLU interpretation to distinguished things like now it only requires a magistrate before it required a court order and that's much harder.

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