Untitled

Patriot Act 1 (over 300 plus pages)
Remarkably, this 342-page law was written, passed (by a 98-1 vote in the U.S. Senate) and signed into law within seven weeks of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. As a result, the government gained new power to wiretap phones, confiscate property of suspected terrorists, spy on its own citizens without judicial review, conduct secret searches, snoop on the reading habits of library users and obtain every student's personal information from every High School of the age of 18.

Patriot Act 2 (over 300 plus pages too)
1. Americans could have their citizenship revoked, if found to have contributed "material support" to organizations deemed by the government, even retroactively, to be "terrorist."
2. Legal permanent residents could be deported instantaneously, without a criminal charge or even evidence, if the Attorney General considers them a threat to national security. If they commit minor, non-terrorist offenses, they can still be booted out, without so much as a day in court, because the law would exempt habeas corpus review in some cases.
3. The government would be instructed to build a mammoth database of citizen DNA information, aimed at "detecting, investigating, prosecuting, preventing or responding to terrorist activities." Samples could be collected without a court order; one need only be suspected of wrongdoing by a law enforcement officer. Those refusing the cheek-swab could be fined $200,000 and jailed for a year. "Also, no federal genetic privacy law would regulate the DNA databases.
4. Authorities could wiretap anybody for 15 days, and snoop on anyone's Internet usage (including chat and email), all without obtaining a warrant.
5. The government would be specifically instructed not to release any information about detainees held on suspicion of terrorist activities, until they are actually charged with a crime. Or, to put it in plain English, "for the first time in U.S. history, secret arrests will be specifically permitted."
6. Businesses that rat on their customers to the Feds – even if the information violates privacy agreements, or is, in fact, dead wrong – would be granted immunity.
7. Police officers carrying out illegal searches would also be granted legal immunity if they were just carrying out orders.
8. Federal "consent decrees" limiting local law enforcement agencies' abilities to spy on citizens in their jurisdiction would be rolled back. These were just won for us during the 1970s."
9. American citizens could be subject to secret surveillance by their own government on behalf of foreign countries, including dictatorships.
10. The death penalty would be expanded to cover 15 new offenses.
a. Sabotaging Defense Installation
b. Sabotaging Nuclear Facility
c. Destroying Energy Facility
d. For "conduct resulting in death" in the course of offenses likely to be committed by terrorists listed in 18 U.S.C. #2232b(9)(5)(B) or in #2510."
e. Death for "fatal terrorist crimes". The offender must have a "high degree of culpability with respect to the victim or victims". Once again, we fear the vagueness of this definition. It seems like it is very elastic and could be stretched to cover a lot of acts not normally considered to be "criminal". In a dictatorship, the instrument most feared by the oppressors is the power of the pen; therefore, we would not be surprised if the government will use this kind of vague statute to come after anyone writing a newsletter, speaking on the radio, or expressing views on the Internet.
11. And many of PATRIOT I's "sunset provisions" – stipulating that the expanded new enforcement powers would be rescinded in 2005 – would be erased from the books.