Access to The Champion archive is one of many exclusive member benefits. It’s normally restricted to just NACDL members. However, this content, and others like it, is available to everyone in order to educate the public on why criminal justice reform is a necessity.
Does your cable company want to expand the PATRIOT Act? According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the answer is yes; hotels, Internet service providers and other businesses support expanded no notice subpoena power because they want the "legal cover of being able to say they were complying with a subpoena" when they hand over your personal records to the FBI without telling you and without giving you an opportunity to contest the search. The newspaper went on to endorse a provision in legislation to renew the PATRIOT Act (S. 1266) that would create breathtaking new powers for the FBI to subpoena any materials that are relevant to foreign intelligence investigations.
We know that some companies have not been vigilant in protecting our personal information; privacy breaches by CitiFinancial, LexisNexis, and CardSystems Solutions are but a few recent examples. Encouraging corporate America to protect our privacy is vital because as the quantity and quality of information amassed by the private sector increases, so too does the danger posed by unfettered government access. It's not just the right to privacy that's at stake, but the core freedoms in the Bill of Rights, including our freedom of speech, religion and assembly as well as the guarantee of equal protection. Shouldn't we cast our consumer votes for companies that respect our privacy and support reasonable checks on government snooping powers?
Currently, under the PATRIOT Act, the government can issue a "national security letter" to obtain certain information from particular record holders (e.g., "financial institutions"). A broader category of business records is available, under another PATRIOT Act provision, if the FBI obtains an order from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. These tools do not require probable cause, and the recordkeeper is prohibited from ever telling us of the disclosure - but at least the authority is not limitless and some demands involve judicial scrutiny. If enacted, the administration's proposal for broad administrative subpoena power would render both provisions obsolete, and judicial screening of records demands would disappear.
What can we do? Congress is now considering whether to renew, modify or expand the 16 PATRIOT Act provisions about to expire. Of course, we should all write, email and lobby Congress, and NACDL's Web site contains information and a module to do just that. But I am proposing something additional and different. Here (www.nacdl.org/legislation) is a sample privacy protection protest letter, also available on NACDL's Website, for you to send to your communications providers (cable, phone and Internet service), financial institutions, airlines (frequent flyer programs), and other record holders. Pass it along. NACDL will continue to fight to bring the PATRIOT Act in line with the Constitution, but we must also seek to ensure that the businesses with whom we share our personal information do not betray our trust and undermine our libertie
