Any specifics re: actual legal changes post 9-11?

I have heard a lot of generalized references to civil laws that have been sweepingly changed subsequent to 9-11 by the current administration. Does anyone have or know of specific changes in Federal law that have already been implemented, and/or if any relate specifically to Internet privacy/security issues? I would definitely be interested in that, and would think others here would be as well. TIA.

sk

 

Gosh....where do we start?

Remembering these are USA laws, regulations, etc....

Let's go back to the 18th of November:
[http://www.aclu.org/Cyber-Liberties/Cyber-Liberties.cfm?ID=11332&c=58
This was a major blow.

One thing that is important to remember - it wasn't all in the USA Patriot Act. Many other bills, executive orders, Ashcroft "interpretations", etc. are involved.

One major law that was being challenged BEFORE 9-11, but since has been used to attempt to milk it through is the United States Vs. Bach. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed an Amicus brief, but the circuit court upheld the law - it's disastrous for Internet privacy. All the details are here:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/bach/
Basically, it allows a simple FAX to be sent to an ISP to get them to hand over information. Before, it actually took quite a bit to have ISP records released. It was later expanded to the "secret court" as provided for by the USA Patriot Act to have the power to issue the "FAXED WARRANT"......No reason needs to be given. In fact, the ISP is forbidden to even discuss it.

As for the USA Patriot Act itself, as good a summary as there is as it relates to the Internet can be found here:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Terrorism_militias/20011031_eff_usa_patriot_analysis.html


another good summary on how the USA Patriot Act relates to the Net can be found here:
http://www.cdt.org/security/011031summary.shtml

For an excellent article that ties a lot of this together can be found here:
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,50964,00.html

I would also urge you to read the USA Patriot Act itself complete with the Cyber addendums.

That should give you a good start.
Thanks for caring - and for writing!!

All the best,
John
Luv2BSecure

 

Are you kidding? Thanks for your most generous response. As you said, it's the right place to start. And as weighty as it is, as you also pointed out it's just the start. It's quite sobering in itself, but even more so when one considers it may not even be the tip of the iceberg.

And while it might only be tangentially related to the whole privacy issue, I still remember hearing about a supposed plan of President Bush, before the election, to start charging for email. I also just recently saw a website where the webmaster referred to certain types of software as "Drug Ware", or "Pusher Ware" - software that appears to be 'free', but then advances to hidden costs down the road, after people are already used to using it and having it on their systems. (The same way a drug dealer will initially give away a small amount of the drug for free, knowing that eventually the person will become hooked, and so he'll make his initial outlay back a zillion times over.) I can't think of a more apt term for that email plan ascribed to Bush - get everybody real acclimated to using email, then start charging. Obviously that has not [yet?] happened, but it certainly seemed clear before the election that the current president is no friend of the Internet. I think it warrants rigorous attention to everything that goes down in this current administration, and for that matter, any administration to follow. Just my two cents; your mileage may vary. Thanks agian for the seeds, John.

sk

 

are you talking about postage stamps for email? in order for that to be fair, all email servers would have to be federally owned, wouldn't they? and since email is bounced around the internet, it isn't exactly delivered by hired postal workers.. perhaps the costs would come from gov't measures to kill privacy in email.

it would be sort of funny if the US gov't began taxing its citizens for invading their privacy.

 

It's just twisted enough to maybe make it into their plans.

sk