From Newsgroup: alt.society.civil-liberty
ACLU, Arab Groups Challenge Patriot Act
(EXCERPT) Wednesday July 30, 2003 6:49 PM
DETROIT (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in
federal court Wednesday against parts of the USA Patriot Act that let authorities monitor books people read and conduct secret searches.
``Ordinary Americans should not have to worry that the FBI is rifling
through their medical records, seizing their personal papers, or
forcing charities and advocacy groups to divulge membership lists,''
said ACLU attorney Ann Beeson.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment to consider
an earlier ACLU challenge to the government's expanded surveillance
powers under the act, which Congress passed after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks.
The group asked the justices to consider when the government should be
allowed to monitor telephone conversations and e-mail, then use the
information to prosecute the monitored person.
This week's challenge was jointly announced, By the ACLU in Michigan
and Portland, Ore.
The Justice Department has defended the act as a cruci...
U.S. and friendly nation laws prohibit fully reproducing
copyrighted material. In abidance with our laws this report
cannot be provided in its entirety. However, you can read it
in full today, 30 Jul 2003, at the following URL. (COMBINE
the following lines into your web browser.) The
subject/content of this report is not necessarily the
viewpoint of the distributing Library. This report is provided
for your information and discussion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2970339,00.html
---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com
--- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113