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Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

DOJ's Anti-Terrorism Bill Would Dismantle Civil Liberties

Legislate to Improve Security Not Eliminate Freedoms

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Contact:

Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director
  ssteele@eff.org
  +1 415-436-9333 x103
Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney
  tien@eff.org
  +1 415-436-9333 x102

San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today criticized the "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" (MATA) a.k.a. Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) proposed by the US Department of Justice because many provisions of the law would dramatically alter the civil liberties landscape through unnecessarily broad restrictions on free speech and privacy rights in the United States and abroad.

EFF again urged Congress to act with deliberation in approving only measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting the freedoms of Americans.

Attorney General John Ashcroft distributed the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act / Mobilization Against Terrorism Act to members of Congress after Monday's press conference at which he indicated that, among other measures, he would ask Congress to expand the ability of law enforcement officers to perform wiretaps in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked Congress to pass anti-terrorism legislation including "expanded electronic surveillance" by the end of this week.

EFF believes this broad legislation would radically tip the United States system of checks and balances, giving the government unprecedented authority to surveil American citizens with little judicial or other oversight.

One particularly egregious section of the DOJ's analysis of its proposed legislation says that "United States prosecutors may use against American citizens information collected by a foreign government even if the collection would have violated the Fourth Amendment."

"Operating from abroad, foreign governments will do the dirty work of spying on the communications of Americans worldwide. US protections against unreasonable search and seizure won't matter," commented EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien.

Additional provisions of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), originally called the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act (MATA), include measures which:

  • make it possible to obtain e-mail message header information and Internet user web browsing patterns without a wiretap order;
  • eviscerate controls on roving wiretaps;
  • permit law enforcement to disclose information obtained through wiretaps to any employee of the Executive branch;
  • reduce restrictions on domestic investigations under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA);
  • permit grand juries to provide information to the US intelligence community;
  • permit the President to designate any "foreign-directed individual, group, or entity," including any United States citizen or organization, as a target for FISA surveillance;
  • prevent people from even talking about terrorist acts;
  • establish a DNA database for every person convicted of any felony or certain sex offenses, almost all of which are entirely unrelated to terrorism;

EFF Executive Director Shari Steele emphasized, "While it is obviously of vital national importance to respond effectively to terrorism, this bill recalls the McCarthy era in the power it would give the government to scrutinize the private lives of American citizens."

Ashcroft's proposed legislation comes in the wake of the Senate's hasty passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act" (CTA) on the evening of September 13 with less than 30 minutes of consideration on the Senate floor.


The proposed Anti-Terrorism Act / Mobilization Against Terrorism Act:
  http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_proposal.html

EFF analysis of the ATA/MATA bill [coming soon]:
  http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_ashcroft.html

Attorney General John Ashcroft's remarks on response to terrorism from FBI headquarters on September 17, 2001:
  http://www.eff.org/sc/ashcroft_statement.html

The Combating Terrorism Act (CTA), amendment S.A. 1562 of bill H.R. 2500, passed by the Senate:
  http://www.eff.org/sc/wiretap_bill.html

Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act:
  http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html

EFF analysis of the Combating Terrorism Act:
  http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_wiretap_bill_analysis.html

Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security:
  http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
  http://www.eff.org/

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