Lawmakers "concerned" about FBI Patriot Act Plan

[TimmyBoy]

"Concerned" eh? Well if the lawmakers were seriously concerned, they would have never supported the "PATRIOT" Act when Bush slammed it through Congress on a wave of nationalism shortly after the September 11 attacks. The lawmakers have no balls to do the right thing. They were so scared of being labeled "unpatriotic" and losing their seats in Congress when election time came if they did not support the passing of the bill:

FBI Patriot Act Plan Concerns Lawmakers By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Sun Nov 6, 5:18 PM ET



WASHINGTON - Lawmakers expressed concern Sunday that the FBI was aggressively pushing the powers of the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act to access private phone and financial records of ordinary people.

Under the Patriot Act, the FBI issues more than 30,000 national security letters allowing the investigations each year, a hundred-fold increase over historic norms, The Washington Post reported Sunday, quoting unnamed government sources.

The security letters, which were first used in the 1970s, allow access to people's phone and e-mail records, as well as financial data and the Internet sites they surf. The 2001 Patriot Act removed the requirement that the records sought be those of someone under suspicion.

As a result, FBI agents can review the digital records of a citizen as long as the bureau can certify that the person's records are "relevant" to a terrorist investigation.

Calling the recent growth in the number of letters a "stunner," Biden said, "Thirty thousand seems like an awful, awful stretch to me."

Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the expanded use of security letters was a "clear concern" and that information gathered on citizens should be destroyed if it does not lead to a criminal charge.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051106/ap_on_go_co/patriot_act_records

And here, I would like to leave my old and favorite quote:

"Big Brother is watching you." -George Orwell