PATRIOT Act Renewal

NYT firewalled area, but you may be able to find creative ways around it.

From the MSM it looks like the compromise may be finished, but there is still threats of a filibuster by Feingold.

House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise agreement Thursday to extend the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, but critics from both parties said they found the plan unacceptable because it did not go far enough in protecting Americans' civil liberties.

The plan is expected to come up for final votes in the House and Senate early next week, but its passage was uncertain Thursday, with some Democrats, including Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, threatening a filibuster to block a vote.

Do you think this is the same Feingold that was part of the McCain-Feingold repression of political speech bill?

Three of the most-debated measures would have to be reviewed again by Congress in four years, rather than the seven-year window originally favored by some House leaders in a tentative agreement that was reached last month but then derailed by last-minute concerns from members of both parties.

Those measures that would be extended for four years involve the government's ability to demand records from libraries and other institutions, conduct "roving wiretaps" in surveillance operations and single out "lone wolf" terrorists who operate independently of a larger group.

The library records portion still bothers me, especially relating to the governments tendency to go fishing when they feel the desire. But I don't see any reason to give them a protection that no citizen would be allowed. I am glad that they have essentially left all the review periods on. I would truly hope that at the next review cycle that these allowances would be made to go away.

In another concession to lawmakers who pushed for greater government restrictions, the plan agreed to on Thursday eliminated a proposal that would make it a crime punishable by one year in prison for anyone receiving certain types of records demands from the government to disclose them publicly.

Well, what do you know? They actually are allowing one of the constitutionally delineated rights stand against this bill. The people will be allowed to tell the press when the government forces them to provide records.

I don't know if there are any added protections against abuse, though I doubt there are. I'm going to hope that the agencies like the FBI can show restraint in their application of these allowances, but I won't be holding my breath.