ReachCustomersOnline.com

Bush Grabs New Power for FBI

Posted by TimSlavin at January 6, 2004

"The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge.

...And the law broadens the definition of "financial institution" to include such businesses as insurance companies, travel agencies, real estate agents, stockbrokers, the U.S. Postal Service and even jewelry stores, casinos and car dealerships.

The law also prohibits subpoenaed businesses from revealing to anyone, including customers who may be under investigation, that the government has requested records of their transactions."

As noted in an earlier story on this site, FBI bypasses First Amendment to nail a hacker, this clearly has a chilling effect and could easily be subject to abuse (that's why you involve judges, as a stop gap) since there is now no judicial review and targets are legally forced to be silent. This affects your online activity as well offline.

Bottomline, the US Bill of Rights and the Constitution no longer apply when you buy insurance, real estate, stocks, jewelry, and cars, or travel and visit casinos. Or use the Post Office. You have no right to privacy, unwarranted search and seizure, and the presumption of innocence since your data could be grabbed, in secret, without your knowledge and no opportunity outside of a courtroom to protect your interests. From Wired.

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Tracked on January 7, 2004 10:25 AM

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