Posted on 5/27/2002


"In the seven months since the passage of a sweeping law to combat terrorism, Internet and telecommunications companies have seen a surge in law enforcement requests to snoop on subscribers.

Privacy advocates fear that expanded police power under the Patriot Act -- combined with lax oversight and increased cooperation between the government and private sector phone network and Internet gatekeepers -- may be stomping on civil liberties.

The new laws do not apply just to terrorism but to other crimes as well.

"The trend up to September 11 was for more privacy protection, greater procedural safeguards, more sunshine on the process and more notice," said Al Gidari, a Seattle privacy lawyer who represents Internet and telecoms companies.

"I now see all those things tied up in a box with a little bow on them and forgotten about in the corner," he said.

Law enforcers say they need stepped-up electronic surveillance to keep up with sophisticated criminals, stressing that such efforts are targeted -- they're not trolling every server for e-mails mentioning Osama bin Laden.

Most of the time, they need to identify the source or recipient of a threatening or suspicious message.

Privacy advocates agree that terror must be stopped, but worry that a wider net is being cast that will capture information from innocent citizens."

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/05/27/terror.surveillance.ap/index.html