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                Date: 2000-05-23
                 
                 
                Ueberwachung durch die legislative Hintertuer
                
                 
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      Wenn die US-Gesetzgeber an Gesetze, die  Drogenhändler  
bekämpfen oder Derfraudanten an ihrem schädlichen Wirken  
hindern sollen, merkwürdig dunkel formulierte Paragrafen  
hängen  - dann tun sie nur, was ihre Kollegen in Europa  
ebenfalls gerade tun. Was die lauschgierigen Behörden an  
gesetzlichen Ermächtigungen nicht auf dem direkten Weg  
erreichen, das kriegen sie auf diese Weise zugeschanzt.  
 
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THE uproar was fierce but quick last summer when an  
internal Clinton administration document leaked out, revealing  
yet again the administration's hostility to fundamental  
liberties. The idea was to give law enforcement the authority  
to secretly break into people's homes and businesses to  
conduct searches, including discovering what was on  
computer hard disks or even plant rogue programs on the  
machines to record keystrokes or transmit data to the  
government. 
... 
Like burglars in the dead of night, they've quietly attached the  
proposal to several pieces of legislation, including an utterly  
unrelated bankruptcy reform act. Like masters of deception,  
they've hidden it in language that no lay person could  
possibly unravel. 
 
``We've never had a hearing on these provisions,'' says U.S.  
Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., a vocal opponent of what are being  
called the ``secret search'' portions of the legislation.  
``They're very, very substantive, and they're being snuck into  
legislation without a chance to have light shed on them.'' 
 
It's happened before. In 1998, Congress passed a law that  
included a provision greatly expanding law enforcement's  
wiretapping authority -- a provision that lawmakers had  
explicitly rejected when it stood on its own. 
... 
That obscure language, according to experts who've studied  
it, would dramatically expand the government's authority to  
conduct what are called ``sneak and peek'' searches. 
 
The government ``could enter your house, apartment or office  
with a search warrant when you are away, conduct a search,  
seize or copy things such as your computer hard drive and  
not tell you until months later,'' the American Civil Liberties  
Union and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers  
recently wrote in a letter to members of Congress. 
... 
The bankruptcy bill's offensive provisions, passed by the  
Senate with no debate, appear to be identical to language in  
the ``Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act'' (HR 2987), an  
anti-drug bill designed to go after people who operate  
laboratories that manufacture speed. 
... 
In a triumph of vagueness, the bills would ban direct or  
indirect advertising of drug paraphernalia and illegal drugs.  
You wouldn't be allowed even to post mere hyperlinks to  
sites containing information the government didn't like. 
... 
In the anti-drug bill, Internet service providers would be  
required to remove allegedly offending materials at  
government request. Forget due process, and who cares  
about that pesky First Amendment, anyway? 
... 
Since the bankruptcy bill is in conference committee, it's  
fairly close to final passage. Call your U.S. representative  
and senators and demand that they call on the conferees to  
leave the Bill of Rights alone. 
 
The Senate has already passed the methamphetamine bill.  
The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to look closely  
at it on Wednesday, says Barr, who intends to try to strip out  
the big-brotherish language. 
.... 
 
Full Text 
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg052300.htm
                   
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edited by Harkank 
published on: 2000-05-23 
comments to office@quintessenz.at
                   
                  
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