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April 29, 2004

Gagged

I'm disgusted and angry at many things being done in the name of "security" these days. The more disgusting and angering, the less likely we'll ever know.
Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge to Patriot Act

"It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director, said in a statement. "President Bush can talk about extending the life of the Patriot Act, but the ACLU is still gagged from discussing details of our challenge to it."

...The ACLU alleges that a section of the act is unconstitutional because it allows the FBI to request financial records and other documents from businesses without a warrant or judicial approval. The group also says such requests, known as "national security letters," are being used much more broadly than they were before the Patriot Act.

...The ACLU's complaint focuses on the use of national security letters to obtain information held by "electronic communication service providers."

What country is this, again?

Update 5/14: The ACLU press release was itself censored! "One paragraph described the type of information that FBI agents could request under the law, while another merely listed the briefing schedule in the case, according to court documents and the original news release... [the judge] ruled that the briefing schedule could be publicized, along with edited versions of other court filings. But the paragraph describing the information that can be sought remains absent." Un-frickin'-believable.