But, but... the Patriot Act was just about making us safe!

It would never be abused! Consider this your "Patriot Act Abuse of Power Round Up."



Boing Boing: DoJ: FBI misused Patriot act in domestic spying activities:

"A Justice Department audit released today concludes that the FBI broke the law in its use of the Patriot Act to secretly obtain phone, business, and financial data about people in the US.

..FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters today "I am to be held accountable," then added that he has no plans to resign."

Boy, that's a different kinda accountability than I learned about in the military.

The most important part of FBI Director Mueller's press conference about the domestic spying scandal - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

"We're talking about the phone companies and the Internet companies providing copies of your phone records, possibly copies of your phone conversations, your email traffic, the Web sites you've visited, your online chat conversations, and more to the FBI. Let's just make that clear right away.

...The FBI just spied on American citizens in clear violation of the law and the Constitution. The big phone companies and the big Internet providers were overly-willing accomplices. I want to know what's going to be done about it. For starters, let's haul those phone company and Internet company CEOs before Congress, under oath, and ask them why they're so willing to violate the privacy of millions of innocent Americans."

Boing Boing: PATRIOT Act makes us all terrorists:

"In a chilling analysis of the PATRIOT Act, the ACLU points out that the new definition of 'domestic terrorist' redefines any US criminal as a terrorist, exempt from due process and an open trial. 'Domestic terrorists' can have their assets seized without a hearing, have their educational records pulled, and a host of other nasties. 'Terrorism' is now officially meaningless: as far as the PATRIOT Act is concerned, if you do anything the government doesn't like, you're a terrorist. When you put it that way, it seems even less likely that we'll win the 'war on terrorism.'"

Wired: AP Technology and Business News from the Outside World on Wired.com:

"The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies."