Original Article Galvan: Restricting freedoms, one act at a time by Astrid Galvan published on Friday, November 18, 2005 Galvan If you still don't know what the Patriot Act is, I'm not going to sugarcoat it or lie: You're an idiot. The U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T Act, which stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism," was signed by all but one senator a mere 45 days after Sept. 11, 2001. The Patriot Act is a liberal's worse nightmare, an early funeral for cremated civil rights. Originally (and suspiciously, if you've seen its 30,000 words) introduced only nine days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the Patriot Act gives the government the right to contradict several amendments on the Constitution by giving it the power to do things such as investigate citizens' records, wiretap their phones and use other devices to perform an investigation without a search warrant - as long as investigation officers consider the suspect to be "significant" to the investigation. The Fourth Amendment requires that the government obtain a search warrant to search a private premise and requires that there be reasonable cause. But this apparently did not matter to then Attorney General John Ashcroft, who, as a part of the wonderful Bush administration, pushed the act heavily. One of the most appalling provisions of the Patriot Act was incorporated just last year. Section 374 of the Patriot Act allows the FBI to obtain any person's private records simply by submitting a so-called national security letter. The national security letter is simply a piece of paper that would state the relevance of the investigated records and be written by any FBI field agent. After submitting this "letter," the government agency would obtain records from any given financial institution, regardless of its own privacy policies. To top it off, the law prohibits the institution involved to reveal to anyone, including the person under investigation, that the government has requested their personal records. I'm sure nobody liked that silly little "freedom of speech" law anyway! Among other violations, the Patriot Act practically abolishes the Sixth Amendment by making it legal to incarcerate anyone without pressing charges and depriving them of the right to confront witnesses against them. In addition to that, government agencies may also detain a citizen in jail without a trial and without informing them of their alleged crime. Once again, these powers that have been granted to investigating agencies are permissible through their suspicion of who could be a terrorist, not who actually is. Ever heard of "innocent until proven guilty?" But behold! It gets worse. The Patriot Act was about to expire, when just this Wednesday lawmakers tentatively agreed to renew it and possibly make 14 of its provisions permanent. Front-page news headlines insinuate a pleasant result of this renewal - that it will implement new revisions that will allegedly "curb" government powers. According to The Washington Post, the revisions will implement limits on the FBI's "national security letters" by forcing them to disclose the amount of requests made for information. The FBI would also need to allow businesses receiving such letters the opportunity to pay a visit to an attorney, as opposed to having to keep their mouth shut. Other provisions would expire in seven years if not re-approved by Congress, such as the governments' right to wiretap phones and access library and bookstore records. Still, these revisions and limits are nothing but bull. Lawmakers involved are not getting rid of this unconstitutional piece called the Patriot Act; they are just trying to placate a bad situation by pretending to fix it. In the name of freedom, the Patriot Act should just be eradicated, not revised or made permanent. Astrid Galvan is a journalism junior. Reach her at astrid.galvan@asu.edu.