The USA PATRIOT Act

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the USA PATRIOT Act has given 'terrorism' a new and much wider meaning and defines a new category called "domestic" terrorists as compared to international terrorists. The author points out that the new Act has defined a number of new money laundering crimes, as well as amendments and increased penalties, including confiscation of all of the property of any individual or enterprises that plans or carries forward an act of domestic or international terrorism. The paper stresses that the Act can be misused for the purpose of prosecuting political dissidents of many types and might be seen as a violation of six of the ten original elements of the Bill of Rights: the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 13th Amendments.

From the Paper:

"USA PATRIOT Act originated from a consultation draft, which was circulated by the Department of Justice, and was modified and amended substantially by the US Congress. The Act is to be used for helping the law enforcement officials to find out and punish those responsible for the attacks on September 9th and to protect the people against such attacks in the future. This Act has given the federal officials extensive powers to trace out and intercept the communication channels used by the terrorists. This tracking can be used for both law enforcement and foreign intelligence."

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