Earlier today, Congress
voted to extend the Patriot Act for five more weeks. Sixteen provisions of
this act were set to expire on December 31, including one section allowing roving
wiretaps, and the review and sharing of library and medical records without a
court order. Although these sections have received the most media attention,
another provision, Section 505 will not expire. Section 505 of the Patriot Act
allows government agencies to obtain a variety of consumer records without a
court order by simply writing a "national security letter."
As anyone who has read their credit
report knows, the information in a credit report is detailed and often
inaccurate. Old addresses, crossed records and incorrect employment histories
are very common on credit reports and could lead to major complications under
Section 505. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that anyone who uses your
credit report must inform you of that your report has been reviewed, explain your rights, and
detail any adverse action that will result from the credit check. However, under
Section 505, government agencies do not have to comply with these regulations.
The Patriot Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act in two important ways: (1)
It requires a consumer reporting agency to furnish all information in a
consumer’s file to a government agency upon certification that the records are
relevant to intelligence or counterintelligence activities related to
international terrorism.; and (2) it precludes a consumer reporting agency from
telling a consumer that his or her report was accessed for this purpose.
What is terrorism? Sec. 802 of the
Patriot Act amends the federal criminal code to: (1) revise the definition of
"international terrorism" to include activities that appear to be intended to affect the
conduct of government by mass destruction; and (2) define "domestic
terrorism" as activities that occur primarily within U.S. jurisdiction,
that involve criminal acts dangerous to human life, and that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian
population, to influence government policy by intimidation or coercion, or to
affect government conduct by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.
This means that government agencies can order the phone logs, email records,
bank account information and full credit reports of US citizens, based
on ‘appearances’ even if there isn’t
enough evidence to obtain a search warrant. There
is no judicial oversight of these requests and there is no requirement that the
federal agencies, accessing and sharing consumer records, must ever inform the
consumer that their records were accessed. It is no surprise that the ACLU
has challenged the practices of Section 505 as a violation of the First (freedom
of speech) and Fourth Amendments (no unreasonable searches).
To learn more about this issue visit the ACLU, ChecksandBalances.org,
Electronic Frontier
Foundation, Congresswoman
Nancy Pelosi, Slate.com included Section 505 in their review of the most
frightening parts of the Patriot Act or Senator
Lisa Murkowski online.
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