ACLU Online
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http://action.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=203&s_scr=actionemail&s_subsrc=title

The Senate Intelligence Committee will be holding a secret meeting tomorrow to expand the Patriot Act. Instead of listening to the public concern about the Patriot Act’s infamous provisions, the Senators on this Committee will be meeting behind closed doors to discuss expanding the government power to conduct surveillance and obtain personal records.

The Patriot Act is too important to be expanded in secret. Click here to urge Congress to hold open meetings when it considers changes to the Patriot Act and to fully consider public input on these proposed expansions of government surveillance powers.
http://action.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=203&s_scr=actionemail&s_subsrc=middle

The proposed Patriot Act expansion would make permanent all those provisions that expand government power. For example, it would make permanent the section that allows the FBI to seize secretly a vast array of sensitive personal information and belongings -- including medical, library and business records -- using secret intelligence tools that do not require individual criminal activity and that do not require specific facts connecting these records to terrorism, to a terrorist, or to a spy.

Congress passed the Patriot Act in in a hurry with virtually no debate . . . don't let them do it again.

Take action! Click here to urge your Senators to hold open and public hearings on the expansion of the Patriot Act.
http://action.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=203&s_scr=actionemail&s_subsrc=bottom

The rise in identity theft has impacted many of our lives. Just today, for example, data broker LexisNexis reported that personal information on 310,000 U.S. citizens may have been stolen.

Now, several Members of Congress are pushing legislation that would compile your most personal information, such as your name, address, social security number and perhaps even your DNA, into a national database. This giant network would then be accessible by numerous government officials and shared with Mexican and Canadian bureaucracies, dramatically increasing the risk of your personal information being stolen and abused.

Take Action! Urge Congress to oppose legislation that would result in a national ID and imperil your personal privacy.
http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=17982&c=39

This proposed legislation would create a national system to store your personal contact information and personal biometric information, which could include your fingerprints, DNA or retinal scans. It would drastically alter who has access to your personal information. Thousands of government employees across North America would have access to these personal details, and hackers, thieves, terrorists and organized criminals would have a single one-shop destination for identity theft.

Based on the outcry by concerned activists like you, the legislation’s supporters know they cannot get it to pass as an independent bill in the Senate so they are trying to attach it to an unrelated appropriations bill.

A vote is expected later this week and we need you to contact your Senators and urge them to oppose adding this ill-conceived legislation to the supplemental appropriations bill.

Click here for more information and to contact your Senators:

http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=17982&c=39

Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU

Subject: Urge Your Senators to Promote Open and Transparent Government

How early did government officials learn about prison abuse in Iraq? What decisions were made about hiding detainees from the Red Cross? The answers to these important questions can only be obtained when the government stays transparent and open. Responding to a disturbing new trend toward government secrecy, new legislation has been introduced to ensure government transparency, and needs your support.

Take action to support openness and transparency in the federal government.

Recent scandals around torture and prison abuse have demonstrated that government employees and officials must be accountable to the public. As members of the public, we have the right and responsibility to know what is happening in our government, and to know what the government is doing about any problems.

Yet the current Administration has blocked reasonable requests for information relevant to a wide range of issues. Without timely and appropriate access to information about the government activity, we cannot stay properly informed and involved in our nation’s governance.

Real reforms are necessary to ensure that, as members of the public, we have access to the information we need to ensure the government stays honest and democratic.

Take action! Urge your Senators to stand up for the openness in the federal government.

Click here for more information and take action!
http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=17722&c=24