ACLU Speaker Criticizes Anti-Terrorism USA PATRIOT Act

Author: Khairani Barokka

On the evening of Oct. 7, Ben Scotch, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, gave a passionate lecture entitled "Liberty vs. Security? Progress Report on the USA. Patriot Act in the Robert A. Jones '59 House conference room. Scotch is part of a nationwide movement of people rallying against the USA. Patriot Act in the belief that we can and should have both liberty and security, and that civil liberties rights should not be compromised during the war on terrorism. The USA. Patriot (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, introduced in October 2001, has forced many people to question the nature of liberty and security in the United States after Sept. 11, 2001.
This well-attended event was sponsored by the Political Science Department, the Center for International Affairs, College Democrats and College Progressives and was organized by Ashley Price '03.5. It took place as one of hundreds of events that were held nationwide as part of the Alliance for Justice's First Monday 2002 program. This program aims to highlight the ways in which civil liberties have been affected by laws and policies introduced in the wake of Sept. 11. Scotch's lecture was preceded by the documentary "Of Rights and Wrongs: The Threat to America's Freedoms."
The documentary featured actress Susan Sarandon, several respected historians and civil liberties experts such as Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Roger Wilkins. The music of Bruce Springsteen accompanied a narrative about individuals whose civil rights have been abused in the climate of fear that has overtaken the United States this past year. The documentary focused on government agencies that have utilized laws such as the USA. Patriot Act.
In his lecture, Scotch recommended "resisting the question of 'liberty or security?'" and instead encouraged the audience to understand that "civil liberties are part of a web that provides security … If you remove part of that web, you're going to lose a part of your security. Liberties are at the heart of security." And this security, Scotch firmly believes, is currently undermined by the USA Patriot Act.
Scotch began explaining the act by deconstructing its dense language. He chose not to utter the word "patriot" in his references to the act, preferring to call it "USAPA." He said that he does not see patriotism as "bad" per se, but thinks that it can forge a clear path to censorship — patriotism leads to unity, which leads to unanimity, which leads to conformity, and this conformity leads to censorship.
Scotch urged the audience to look closely at the text of USA Patriot. He believes the act has changed the way the laws are interpreted by reducing the role the courts have in enforcing the act, and by "blurring the lines between foreign intelligence investigations and criminal law enforcement." Scotch illustrated this by discussing act subsections 215 and 216.
Subsection 215 states that law enforcement authority is able to obtain an order requiring that "any tangible things" be produced. The order is needed "to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities," with no mention of "probable cause" or "specific and articulate facts." Subsection 215 also says that U.S. citizens may be targets of a search, but that search may not be based only on their First Amendment activities. Finally, the target of a search is not allowed to tell anyone besides an attorney about the order to produce "any tangible things."
Subsection 216 of the USAPA gives court authorization for "pen register, trap and trace surveillance," meaning that law enforcers may track who emails and calls whom, their addresses, numbers, and the times they communicate. Historically, the authorities may not access email and phone call content. However, this subsection of the act says that if the request is "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation," an order may be obtained. And, Scotch notes, "since e-mail 'packets' make no such distinctions, the promise not to look at the content of messages in unenforceable." This leads to the enabling of Carnivore — "the most massive Internet eavesdropping tool yet devised," the results from which are required to be reported to Congress. Unlike 215, 216 will not expire in 2005.
Scotch also drew attention to the indirect effects of USAPA, such as self-censorship. Another perceived problem is the underlying message behind the act's consequences, such as racial profiling. Scotch encouraged the audience to take action. "I don't think all is lost by any means," he said, "I think it's good to see a film like ["Of Rights and Wrongs"], as a warning. But don't think that you don't have power, whatever the color of your skin. Don't hesitate to get down and dirty with the details. This is not a battle that has by any means been lost. Your generation has to save us."
Price was satisfied with the evening. She stated that she felt such an event needed to be held to address the less-discussed domestic impacts of the war on terrorism and how it relates to the possibility of a war with Iraq in the very near future. Regarding this war, she said, "I think it will really have an effect on people here."