Politech: FC: Civil libs, bookstores investigate USA Patriot surveillance

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 12:41:52 -0400
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
From: Barry Steinhardt <Bsteinhardt () aclu org>
Subject: ACLU,EPIC, Booksellers FOIA On the Patriot Act


Declan,

The ACLU, EPIC and the American Booksellers Foundation have filed an 
extensive Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI and the Justice 
Department in an effort to learn how the surveillance provisions of the 
"Patriot" Act have been implemented.  Below you will find our press release 
and more information is available on the ACLU web site at 
http://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy/USAPA_feature.htm.
I would appreciate your including as much of this as you deem appropriate 
on Politech.
Barry Steinhardt
Director ACLU Program on Technology and Liberty
NEW YORK- Saying that the American people have a right to know how the 
government is using its extraordinary new surveillance powers, the American 
Civil Liberties Union today filed a Freedom of Information Act request 
demanding that the Department of Justice provide information about the 
pervasiveness of domestic spying.
“This Administration’s penchant for secrecy is matched only by its contempt 
for accountability to the American people and their elected 
representatives,” said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU’s Technology 
and Liberty Program.
“Attorney General Ashcroft bullied a panicked Congress into an overnight 
revision of the nation’s surveillance laws just six weeks after the 
September 11 attacks,” Steinhardt added. “The nation needs to know if these 
powers are truly making us any safer or just less free.”
The ACLU made the request jointly with the Electronic Privacy Information 
Center and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, which 
said it was concerned that the new surveillance laws threaten the First 
Amendment-protected activities of book publishers, investigative 
journalists, booksellers, librarians, and readers.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which was accompanied by a 
request for expedited processing, seeks information on 14 different 
categories of agency records, including the number of times the government 
has:
·       Conducted sneak and peek” searches, which allow law enforcement to 
enter people  homes and search their belongings without informing them 
until long after;
·       Directed a library, bookstore or newspaper to produce tangible 
things,” e.g, the titles of books an individual has purchased or borrowed 
or the identity of individuals who have purchased or borrowed certain books;
·       Authorized the use of devices to trace the telephone calls or 
e-mails of people who are not suspected of any crime;
·       Investigated American citizens and permanent legal residents and 
sought information on the basis of activities protected by the First 
Amendment (e.g., writing a letter to the editor or attending a rally).
Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU staff attorney, emphasized that the government’s 
investigative powers extend to people not suspected of any terrorist 
activities and that those ordered to provide information are barred from 
mentioning the investigation to anyone. “The searches could extend to 
doctors’ offices, banks and other institutions that, like libraries, were 
previously off-limits under the law,” he said.
The ACLU FOIA request comes after a similar request was made in July by 
House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and ranking member John 
Conyers (D-MI). Following the government’s failure to respond to most of 
those questions, Rep. Sensenbrenner, whose committee has oversight of the 
Justice Department, said yesterday that he may take the unusual step of 
issuing a subpoena to Attorney General John Ashcroft if satisfactory 
answers to his 50 written questions are not forthcoming by Labor Day.
“The refusal of the Justice Department to tell Congress how many times it 
has used its powers is even more unsettling because it naturally leads to 
the suspicion that it is using them a lot,” said Chris Finan, President of 
the American Booksellers group. “When the FBI is given the power to 
investigate what people are reading, the American people deserve to know 
how that power is being used.”
David Sobel, General Counsel to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, 
said that the request filed today does not seek any information that could 
compromise a terrorism investigation. “Much of the information that the 
Justice Department claims is classified consists of statistical information 
whose release could not possibly endanger national security or any other 
legitimate government interest,” he said.
Under law, the government is required to respond to the FOIA request within 
20 working days; requests for expedited processing require a response 
within 10 calendar days. The groups said they may file a lawsuit if the 
government does not respond in a timely way.
The attorneys in the case are Ann Beeson, litigation director of the ACLU’s 
Technology and Liberty Program, Jaffer, and Sobel of the Electronic Privacy 
Information Center.
A web feature on the FOIA action, including links to the request and the 
Sensenbrenner letter to Attorney General Ashcroft, is online at 
http://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy/USAPA_feature.html



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