As Patriot Act turns 10, we do NOT need a Patriot Act cyber-edition

As we come to the close of Cybersecurity Awareness month, as the privacy protections of the outdated ECPA turns 25-years-old, and on the 10th anniversary of the Patriot Act, freedom of expression, freedom of speech and other constitutional protections are under attack in and out of the digital realm. Backed with the 'secret law' of Patriot Act powers, the feds acts like they've lost their minds when it comes to suspicion and surveillance.

Yes, we want America to be safe, offline and online, but we want America to remain free. Freedom is more than a simple concept or a word. A decade ago, a hasty decision was made that has forever changed America and the lives of her citizens. As Congress ponders numerous cybersecurity measures that the Obama administration has proposed, I appeal to you to take action to tell those in power to use great caution before making the same Patriot Act mistakes that kicked aside constitutional protections against a government that deep dives and pries into our lives.

While the Patriot Act may have been meant to catch terrorists, by its 10th birthday it turned We the innocent People into suspects as government surveillance grew by leaps and bounds. We do not need cybersecurity measures that will turn the spying eye of suspicion on regular citizens as if they are cyberterrorists. We do not need a cybersecurity copy of the Patriot Act since the government all ready has the power to monitor email communications, eavesdrop on phone calls, track credit cards and banking transactions; and we help them by willingly carrying our mobile phones like personal GPS trackers.

As I sit here listening to an audio book of Orwell's 1984, pouring over all the advances in government surveillance thanks to the blankety-blank-blank Patriot Act, Homeland Security's testing of mind-reading terrorist 'pre-crime' detectors and DARPA's 'global brain' spying strike too close to Orwell's world of constant surveillance and of the Thought Police. The feds currently believe in terms of entrapment, in lying about surveillance, in building databases and in circumventing the law by going to hell to catch potential terrorist devils. A Homeland Security attorney believes the TSA has the right to strip-search passengers, so there's little doubt that if our government could find a way to do it, they would have a Thought Police agency and say they could due to the Patriot Act.

Constitutional protections and our civil liberties have been violated again and again thanks to the Patriot Act, and usually it is tied to the digital realm. In the last year, there was talk of being charged with the Espionage Act for daring to read, comment upon, "like," or tweet about any of the dirt revealed via WikiLeaks. That surely is not a crime, is not terrorism-related either, but the threat of terrorism is wielded like a weapon of fear in America . . . often tossing out innocent-until-proven-guilty, privacy, and the requirement of probable cause in favor of warrantless searches. The Supreme Court is about to decide on the legality of warrantless GPS surveillance, a case dubbed  'the most important Fourth Amendment case in a decade.' The DOJ wants the court to agree that a person traveling on public roads has "no reasonable expectation of privacy" in his movements, wants the Court to find in favor of warrantless GPS surveillance.

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) states, "Cyberspace touches practically everything and everyone." And indeed it does. WikiLeaks and the AntiSec movement have been proclaimed as reasons for tougher cybersecurity measures. A Government Accountability Office report stated that security incidents from 24 federal agencies increased over 650% over the past 5 years. The FBI said there is an increasing threat to critical utility, industrial control systems and financial systems since "terror groups" can "buy or lease the computer skills and malware needed to launch a cyberattack." Is the solution to launch a separate and secure place in cyberspace? The FBI said yes and has called for an alternate Internet to protect critical utility and financial systems. Clearly there are cybersecurity measures that need to take place, but carefully so as not to legalize the Patriot Act cyber-edition.

At the launch of the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace, it was stated if you want to see a world where people can use the Internet "without compromising their safety, their privacy, or their rights of free expression, you have a partner in the United States." Are we talking about the same America with the 10-year-old Patriot Act that is causing the U.S. to drown in warrantless surveillance and 'gag order' National Security Letters? Where digital due process is almost a sad joke? The U.S. with a Justice Department that has repeatedly found blatant abuse thanks to the Patriot Act?

In 2010, only 1% of Sneak and Peek searches were terror-related. The ACLU recently said of Sneak and Peeks:

The Patriot Act allows federal law enforcement agencies to delay giving notice when they conduct secret searches of American's homes and office - a fundamental change to the Fourth Amendment privacy protections and search warrants. This mean that government agents can enter a house, apartment or office with a search warrant when the occupant is away, search through his/her property and take photographs-in some cases seizing property and electronic communications-and not tell the owner until later. 

All this, thanks to the Patriot Act. So as Cybersecurity Awareness month draws to a close, it's important to remember that any future cybersecurity measures and policy "will have a direct effect on all Americans." The ACLU says to "take action by telling your representatives to make sure that whatever the government does respects our privacy rights and the constitution." We do not want or need a "Patriot Act cyber-edition."
 

Image credit: ACLU