Mateo1,
I seriously doubt that anyone has read the thing in its entirety but I looked it up and have a couple of quotes that you can either accept or reject. No doubt, most people will be like you and only become concerned after their rights have personally been compromised as is the case of several of the posters on this forum in talking about the police.
from:
http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RS21203.pdf#search='patriot%20act'
"The Act gives federal officials greater authority to track and intercept communications, both for law enforcement and foreign intelligence gathering purposes."
I wonder who writes the definition of "terrorist"? Especially the 'domestic' ones ...
"It creates new crimes, new penalties, and new procedural efficiencies for use against domestic and international terrorists."
Here's a really good one considering the fact that the loosely defined "terrorist" could be anyone ...
"authorizes “sneak and peek” search warrants" ... I didn't understand this one so did some additional research:
"A sneak and peek search warrant (also called a covert entry search warrant or a surreptitious entry search warrant) is a search warrant authorizing the law enforcement officers executing it to effect physical entry into private premises without the owner’s or the occupant’s permission or knowledge and to clandestinely search the premises; usually, such entry requires a stealthy breaking and entering."
... the interesting thing here is that the warrant can be issued AFTER the search according to what I read!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2005 06:41AM by PaperPusher.