[wordup] Bush's "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" now online

Thu Sep 20 01:05:42 EDT 2001

Via: politech at politechbot.com

Text of the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act":

	http://vorlon.mit.edu/~declan/mata/
	http://www.well.com/~declan/mata/

Background:

	http://www.politechbot.com/p-02531.html

From: http://www.wartimeliberty.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20/0333204

Text of President Bush's Anti-Terrorism Bill Now Online

For the last week, Washington has been buzzing about what may -- or may
not -- be in the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act." We now have a draft
copy of MATA online that you can find at
http://vorlon.mit.edu/~declan/mata/ or http://www.well.com/~declan/mata/.
(Alas, it's in a series of JPG files, but if someone wants to take the
large version and OCR it, please post a link in the comment thread below.)
The Bush administration sent a draft of MATA to Congress late Wednesday,
with the House Judiciary committee pledging "a legislative hearing
followed by a full committee markup as soon as possible" once they receive
the final version. We'll let you look through the bill yourself, but note
how this would expand the utility of the Net's two favorite surveillance
systems: Carnivore and Echelon. If you want to crib from a summary, see
the outline we posted on Tuesday. EFF's press release on MATA is attached
below.

---

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
For Immediate Release: September 19, 2001

Contacts:

Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director, ssteele at eff.org,
  +1 415 436-9333 x103

Lee Tien, EFF Senior Staff Attorney, tien at eff.org,
  +1 415 436-9333 x102 (office),
  +1 510 290-7131 (cell)

DOJ's Anti-Terrorism Law Would Dismantle Civil Liberties

Legislate to Improve Security Not Eliminate Freedoms

San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today
criticized the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" proposed by the US
Department of Justice because many provisions of the law would
dramatically alter the civil liberties landscape through unnecessarily
broad restrictions on free speech and privacy rights in the United States
and abroad.

EFF again urged Congress to act with deliberation in approving only
measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting the
freedoms of Americans.

Attorney General John Ashcroft distributed the proposed Mobilization
Against Terrorism Act to members of Congress after Monday's press
conference at which he indicated that, among other measures, he would ask
Congress to expand the ability of law enforcement officers to perform
wiretaps in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on
September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked Congress to pass anti-terrorism
legislation including "expanded electronic surveillance" by the end of
this week.

EFF believes this broad legislation would radically tip the United States
system of checks and balances, giving the government unprecedented
authority to surveil American citizens with little judicial or other
oversight.

One particularly egregious section of the DOJ's analysis of its proposed
legislation says that "United States prosecutors may use against American
citizens information collected by a foreign government even if the
collection would have violated the Fourth Amendment."

"Operating from abroad, foreign governments will do the dirty work of
spying on the communications of Americans worldwide. US protections
against unreasonable search and seizure won't matter," commented EFF
Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien.

Additional provisions of the proposed Mobilization Against Terrorism Act
include measures which:

* Make it possible to obtain e-mail message header information and
Internet user web browsing patterns without a wiretap order

* Eviscerate controls on roving wiretaps

* Permit law enforcement to disclose information obtained through wiretaps
to any employee of the Executive branch

* Reduce restrictions on domestic investigations under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

* Permit grand juries to provide information to the US intelligence
community

* Permit the President to designate any "foreign-directed individual,
group, or entity," including any United States citizen or organization, as
a target for FISA surveillance

* Prevent people from even talking about terrorist acts

* Establish a DNA database for every person convicted of any felony or
certain sex offenses, almost all of which are entirely unrelated to
terrorism

EFF Executive Director Shari Steele emphasized, "While it is obviously of
vital national importance to respond effectively to terrorism, this bill
recalls the McCarthy era in the power it would give the government to
scrutinize the private lives of American citizens."

Ashcroft's proposed legislation comes in the wake of the Senate's hasty
passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act" on the evening of September 13
with less than 30 minutes of consideration on the Senate floor.

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society.
EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most
linked-to websites in the world: http://www.eff.org/

The proposed Mobilization Against Terrorism Act:
http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_proposal.html

EFF analysis of the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act [coming soon]:
http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_ashcroft.html

Attorney General John Ashcroft remarks on response to terrorism from FBI
headquarters on September 17, 2001:
http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_statement.html

The Combating Terrorism Act (S1562) passed by the Senate:
http://www.eff.org/sc/wiretap_bill.html

Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html

EFF analysis of the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_wiretap_bill_analysis.html

Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security:
http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf

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