The Patriot Act and Civil Liberties

USA Patriot Act

"Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA Patriot Act) Act of 2001," was passed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. The stated purpose of the law is to "deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes."

• Text of the USA PATRIOT Act
• Text of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (PATRIOT Act II). A draft document obtained by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity that would greatly expand the government's policing powers.

Analysis & Interpretations

• American Bar Association - Individual Rights & Responsibilities
• American Civil Liberties Union - Insatiable Appetite: The Government's Demand for New and Unnecessary Powers After September 11
• Bill of Rights Defense Committee - The Homeland Security Act: The Decline of Privacy; the Rise of Government Secrecy
• Cato Institute - Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Preserving Our Liberties While Fighting Terrorism
• Center for Constitutional Rights - The State of Civil Liberities: One Year Later
• Center for National Security Studies - CNSS et al v. DOJ
• Center for Public Integrity - Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act (USA Patriot Act II)
• Congressional Research Service - Terrorism: Section by Section Analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act
• Congressional Research Service - The USA PATRIOT Act: A Sketch
• Electronic Frontier Foundation - EFF Analysis Of The Provisions Of The USA PATRIOT Act
• Free Expression Network - USA Patriot Act Page
• Humanitarian Law Project - Key Patriot Act provision ruled unconstitutional
• Justice Dept. - Preserving Life & Liberty
• Rutherford Institute - Forfeiting "Enduring Freedom" for "Homeland Security"

Government Documents

• Patriot Act Oversight: Investigating Patterns of Terrorist Financing Congressional Hearing, February 12, 2002.
• Report to Congress from Office of Inspector General

The USA PATRIOT Act and the University

• Academic and Campus Issues and Action
• Higher Education Issues After the USA Patriot Act
  
• NASULGC/AAU Homeland Security Resources
  
• Possible Impacts of Major Counter Terrorism Security Actions on Research, Development, and Higher Education
  

Resolutions

• Resolution on the University's Response to the USA PATRIOT Act and Related Measures U.C. Berkeley proposed resolution
• Resolution passed by the Librarians Association of the University of California (LAUC)
• Association Student Body, University of California Santa Barbara
• Academic Senate of the California State University, "Privacy and Right to Read" resolution

The USA PATRIOT Act and Libraries

• Prepared by the American Library Association
  Analysis of the USA Patriot Act related to Libraries
  Section 215: Access to Records Under Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA)
  • Allows an FBI agent to obtain a search warrant for "any tangible thing," which can include books, records, papers, floppy disks, data tapes, and computers with hard drives.
  • Permits the FBI to compel production of library circulation records, internet use records, and registration stored in any medium.
  • Does not require the agent to demonstrate "probable cause," the existence of specific facts to support the belief that a crime has been committed or that the items sought are evidence of a crime. Instead, the agent only needs to claim that he believes that the records he wants may be related to an ongoing investigation related to terrorism or intelligence activities, a very low legal standard.
  • Libraries or librarians served with a search warrant issued under FISA rules may not disclose, under penalty of law, the existence of the warrant or the fact that records were produced as a result of the warrant. A patron cannot be told that his or her records were given to the FBI or that he or she is the subject of an FBI investigation.
  Guide to the USA Patriot Act
  • About the USA Patriot Act
  • FBI in your library
  • Libraries and the USA Patriot Act Legislation

• Protection of library registration and circulation records in California: from the California Law site, search the Government Code for the California Public Records Act, sections 6254, 6255, and 6267.
  
  
• Patriot Act strikes at heart of library. Published in UCLA Today, Vol. 24, No.5 November 4, 2003 by Gary E. Strong, University Librarian, UCLA.

Additional Sources of Information

• Alternative Press Index
  Contains citations to alternative, progressive, and left-oriented publications.
• Ethnic Newswatch
  Source of full-text to ethnic/race specific and regional newspapers.
• Expanded Academic
  Contains citations and abstracts to popular and scholarly publications in various disciplines. Full-text articles are also available.
• Left Index
  Citation information to a diversity of literature associated with the "left."
• Lexis Nexis Academic
  Source of full-text to national and internation newspaper articles, federal and state court decisions, codes, constitutions, and law reviews.
• PAIS International
  Index to government materials, international relations, legislation, and related areas.

Web author. Last modified: May 3, 2004