Which patriots exactly does the act protect?

CHASING DOWN THE MUSE

“My inclination to be relieved of having to think, particularly about

unpleasant facts, helped to sway the balance. In this I did not

differ from millions of others. Such mental slackness above all

facilitated, established and finally assured the success of the

National Socialist system.”

-- ALBERT SPEER

In every direction I turn, my civil rights are quietly being

eroded behind volumes of rhetoric. The Patriot Act stands as the most

glaring of such efforts, chipping away at my personal freedom and

right of privacy. On its heels, CAPPS II further degrades the

promises to citizens of the United States, made by the Constitution

and the Bill of Rights.

Many have questioned, after serious review, how Congress could

have passed the Patriot Act. The act itself, “To deter and punish

terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance

law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes,” sounded

logical in the heated emotional environment post Sept. 11. Passed on

Oct. 25, 2001, as retaliatory energy swirled throughout the country,

there was no congressional debate about any of its Sections or

Titles. A brilliant and perfectly timed stroke, to implement a

long-standing plan and far-reaching agenda, by those who would

undermine our freedoms.

A review of the document further reveals why there was such

silence. The document itself is 127 pages, and referential to prior

United States Code filings. This is not a straightforward or simple

read and it affects all of us. It is confusing and difficult, if not

impossible, to comprehend.

Broad sweeping in its scope, the Act allows for the gathering of

information from education facilities, credit facilities, financial

institutions, allows for oral, wire and electronic taps, seizure of

voice mail messages, without warrant, all within the framework of

“suspected terrorist activities.”

Basically, it allows for the gathering of the history of one’s

life. Section 626 further enhances their power, by “ ‘(c)

CONFIDENTIALITY -- No consumer reporting agency, or officer, or

employee, or agent of such consumer reporting agency, shall disclose

to any person, or specify in any consumer report, that a government

agency has sought or obtained access to information under subsection

(a).” In other words, the government can slip into your private

records without a trace. Talk about Big Brother watching you.

I’m all for shutting down terrorists, but I’m 100% against the government snooping in my e-mail and my bank account. I pay my taxes

and other than that it’s none of their business -- unless they decide

that I might be a suspect. And as noted in my last column, anyone of

us can be arrested and held uncharged, under the guise of suspected

terrorist activity.

Not quite satisfied with the broad scope they’ve already slipped

through the radar screen, the administration now proposes to

implement CAPPS II - Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System.

This newest piece of surveillance architecture will collate into one

behemoth database the following: financial records and transactions,

arrest and conviction records, FBI records, DMV records, criminal

convictions, civil suits, bankruptcy and divorce, property records,

voter rolls, educational records, purchase records, subscription

lists, telephone listings, private organizational directories, and

insurance coverage.

A quick analysis of your information will provide a profile. Based

on your risk assessment you will be tagged green for safe passage,

yellow for further interrogation, or red banned from the flight. This

decision will be made by a ticket taker viewing your personal files

without your consent, and on information assumed to be free of

errors. Profiling at its best.

Freedom of privacy has been lost in the search for the airline

attacker who, with even a modicum of intelligence, will know how to

elude the system before it is operational. The losers are you and I,

millions of innocent citizens, who continue to be sold out by our

representatives in the name of a fear they cannot contain. The

strength of this mighty nation has been the freedoms that we extol to

the rest of the world. Why are we letting them slip away? Why is our

government so afraid of us that they would eliminate the foundations

upon which our nation was founded?

* CATHARINE COOPER is a member of the City Open Space Committee.

She can be reached at ccooper@cooperdesign.net or (949) 497 5081.