Personal Privacy: U.S. Patriot Act under fire again

Your right to privacy just got a little safer.

The federal government has been under increased scrutiny from gay rights activists after it was revealed that the Pentagon had been spying on gay groups. The Pentagon also confirmed the previous existence of a "gay bomb."

A federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act today, saying investigators must have a court's approval before they can order Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten Patriot Act "offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers."

The ACLU said it was improper to issue so-called national security letters, or NSLs — investigative tools used by the FBI to compel businesses to turn over customer information — without a judge's order or grand jury subpoena. Examples of such businesses include Internet service providers, telephone companies and public libraries.

In 2004, ruling on the initial version of the Patriot Act, the judge said the letters violate the Constitution because they amounted to unreasonable search and seizure. He found that the nondisclosure requirement — under which an Internet service provider, for instance, would not be allowed to tell customers that it was turning over their records to the government — violated free speech.

After he ruled, Congress revised the Patriot Act in 2005, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directed that Marrero review the law's constitutionality a second time.

The ACLU complained that Congress' revision of the law didn't go far enough to protect people because the government could still order companies to turn over their records and remain silent about it, if the FBI determined that the case involved national security.

FBI to spy on gay groups instead of the Pentagon

This news story states the Pentagon (headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) is closing an anti-terror database that was found to be spying on gay and anti-war groups, but in reality it is simply being transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the United Stated Department of Justice. (Click here to read about the Sunshine Project....another brilliant example of how the Pentagon spends our tax dollars)

I guess the United States Government continues to believe gay rights groups are a threat to national security. But this doesn't add up.....the Bush Administration has identified Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc. as the breeding ground for terrorists (all Muslim countries). What does this have to do with gay groups? Muslim countries executive and/or stone homosexuals to death.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that it will shut down an anti-terror database that was found to be spying on gay and anti-war groups.

A Pentagon spokesperson said that the database will be closed on September 17 but that much of the information it contained will be sent to the FBI where it will be placed on a database known as Guardian.

The Threat and Local Observation Notices surveillance program, known as TALON, was launched in 2003 track and monitor domestic terror threats.

But it came under intense scrutiny after news reports revealed officials were collecting data on demonstrators and protestors, including those within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Pentagon spokesperson Army Col. Gary Keck denied that pressure from the groups had anything to do with the decision to move the material. Keck said the Pentagon database is being shut down because "the analytical value had declined."