Via Hamster, we find this commentary on Patriot Act II by Anita Ramasastry. She says the sequel is even scarier than the original.

Patriot II, as drafted by the Attorney General and his staff, would begin to make TIA [the Total Information Awareness Project] the law.

For instance, under Patriot II, federal agents would not need a subpoena or obtain a court order to access our consumer credit reports. This provision would open the wedge for TIA to be implemented through a huge database. Our credit reports are repositories of a great deal of sensitive information - from our employment history to where we shop, borrow and transact.

To see the information, the feds would only have to certify that they will use the information "in connection with their duties to enforce federal law." Note that they would not have to certify that the person whose information was accessed was suspected of terrorism, or indeed, any other crime. And no one would be notified that their records had been accessed. When a commercial entity requests a consumer's credit report, a note is made in the consumer's file alerting him to this fact.

Patriot Act I was passed in haste, without adequate opportunity for review by Congress. It seems Ashcroft now is trying to pull the wool over Congress' eyes the same way--he sent a copy of his draft legislaiton to Speaker Hastert, but not to the members of Congress. Listen to Ms. Ramasastry when she says:

If the introduction of Patriot II in Congress coincides with the Iraq war, it may well be because the Administration has planned it that way, to take advantage of circumstances to ram the bill through both Houses quickly.

Even if Patriot II does end up being introduced in wartime, citizens and their representatives should fight this legislation tooth and nail, for it threatens to take even more of our liberties away. It is a wholesale assault on privacy, free speech, and freedom of information.

We've added a newsection to our blogroll called "Government Watchers"--click on Patriot Watch often-- he promises to stay on top of this new legislation. We'll do our best as well. You can find our Patriot Act critiques here.