http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0528-02.htm


Informant: NHNE

The White House is waging a misinformation war about the Patriot Act while support grows among conservatives, libertarians and liberals to fix about a dozen controversial provisions in the law.

The ACLU is calling upon members of Congress and all Americans to stand united against the extension of the USA Patriot, as the President and others in his Administration travel the country urging Americans to support the Act’s renewal.

The President’s renewal request, which came in new campaign advertising that began airing in 19 states last week, is misleading and ignores strong bi-partisan support for fixes to the law. The new Bush ads echo misstatements made in Mr. Bush’s earlier stump speeches on the Patriot Act in Buffalo and Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Vice President Cheney has gotten in on the act. In comments made to an audience in Kansas City, Missouri, this week, the Vice President claimed that no abuses under the Patriot Act have been reported or confirmed.

"Legitimate questions about the Patriot Act should not be exploited for partisan politics," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Unfortunately the president is using his re-election campaign to mislead the American people about the Patriot Act and its ramifications."

Read the ACLU’s recent press release on the President’s Patriot Act campaign ads:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15851&c=262&MX=1276&H=1

Read U.S. Army Brig. Gen. (ret.) Evelyn "Pat" Foote’s comments in opposition to the USA Patriot Act:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15873&c=262&MX=1276&H=1

Read ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero’s statement refuting Vice President Cheney’s remarks alleging no abuses under the Patriot Act:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15876&c=206&MX=1276&H=1

Proof, Negative

By Dahlia Lithwick

Posted Wednesday, June 2, 2004, at 4:02 PM PT

With a triumphant chorus of "We-told-you-so"s, the Justice Department unveiled yesterday a seven-page document summarizing all the accumulated evil that lurks in the heart of alleged enemy combatant Jose Padilla. Why release all this information now? The folks at Justice say they were just responding to a request from Sen. Orrin Hatch. As though Hatch's was the first and only demand for some tangible piece of evidence against Padilla. ...

http://slate.msn.com/id/2101632/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

http://www.barefootsworld.net/uscivilflag.html


Informant: Harry Mobley

We all remember the election of 2000. Because of faulty and mismanaged election systems, George W. Bush won Florida's electoral votes and the presidency. And now look at the mess we're in.

People demanded improvements, and now states are spending millions to buy new voting machines. So far, so good. But many key states, including Florida, Ohio and other battlegrounds, are installing "black box" voting machines -- computer voting terminals that don't produce a paper ballot.

Without a paper ballot, there's no way to know if our votes are counted correctly. Also, computers are vulnerable to malfunction -- how often does yours freeze up?

It's time to take action to protect our votes. Join our call for Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, at:

http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/

If ATMs and gas pumps can print receipts, then voting terminals can print paper ballots. Every voter should be able to make sure that his or her vote will count as it was cast, by verifying a paper ballot that can be audited and re-counted. And wherever electronic voting terminals are used, backup paper ballots should also be available, so no voters will be turned away from the polling place if the terminals aren't working.

Over the past few weeks, MoveOn members have been calling legislators and officials in many states to demand Voter-Verified Paper Ballots. And along with other citizen's groups, large and small, we have won important victories.

A month ago, our side won its biggest victory yet. California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified 14,000 black box voting terminals made by Diebold Inc., and said that this November, every California voter will be able to vote on a paper ballot.

Every voter in every state should have the same right -- to verify that his or her vote was recorded correctly, with full confidence that it will be counted correctly. We shouldn't have to hand our elections over to manufacturers like Diebold and blindly trust them with the results.

This is not about partisan politics. It's about the foundation of our democracy: our votes. There's no reason Americans should have anything less than the most accessible, secure and reliable voting system possible.

Join our campaign by clicking this link:

http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/

Thank you, for everything you do.

Sincerely,
--Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004

P.S.: See our website for helpful background information on this
issue.

05/29/04

Civil Liberties Watch

by Elaine Cassel

"Everyone knows by now (or should) that the Patriot Act allows the FBI to conduct surveillance on Internet and email usage. Using so- called National Security Letters (NSLs), the FBI directs Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide passwords and identifying information that will allow the government to target people who are plotting terrorism or who are otherwise potentially 'dangerous' to national security. ... Until now, we did not know much about how the government goes about this procedure. Now we do. Thanks to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in New York in behalf of an unnamed ISP. The government has tried mightily to keep the entire suit under seal, but the federal judge has allowed the ACLU to release some information about the case."...

http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/ecassel/2004/05/29


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The US is choosing to ignore the fact that it is to blame for the stifling of global democracy...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1228578,00.html


From Information Clearing House

PNR: Hallo, EU-Gerichtshof

Die Kommission hat den Deal unterschrieben, der Parlamentspräsident hat es wie immer in dieser Angelegenheit nicht eilig, den Willen des Parlaments umzusetzen, der nimmermüde Abgeordnete Marco Cappato trommelt zum Widerstand:


Dear President,

During its last session, the European Parliament decided to consult the Court of Justice on the compatibility of the EC/USA agreement on the transfer of passengers' data with EU law. The Council and the Commission have decided to make this decision void because they feared that the Court would have confirmed what the EP has already affirmed for some time: the incompatibility with EU law of the acts they have adopted in a hurry to cover the blatant illegality and breach of EU privacy law since March 2003.

The Commission and the Council have exploited the fact that the EP has suspended its activities because of the electoral period, hereby breaching the principle of loyal cooperation among institutions. I believe the EP President has the duty to immediately take measures to defend the prerogatives and the rights of the institution he chairs, of its members and of EU citizens.

After the publication of the international agreement in the Official Journal, the President of the Parliament should have had started – and still should start - the procedures to dispute, on behalf of the EP, the agreement and the Commission decision declaring that the US administration assures an adequate protection of passengers' data. The critical position of the EP on these acts and their contents is crystal clear, since it has been reiterated five times - two of them asked by the President – through its votes.

The President of the EP, in case he considered that a further recommendation by the legal affairs committee was needed to proceed, should have had convened the committee, as provided by art. 166 of the Rules of Procedure, before the elections.

President Cox, you have not made any of these acts until today.

This seriously puts the credibility of our institution into question, as well as that of the respect of democracy, the Rule of Law, fundamental freedoms and notably European citizens' right to privacy.

We ask you to urgently intervene to activate procedures to go to Court on behalf of the EP against the international agreement and the adequacy finding decision and otherwise urgently convene the legal affairs committee, in order to defend the prerogatives and the rights of the EP, of its members and of European citizens, as provided by the powers and duties of the President of our institution.

Sincerely,

Marco Cappato Radical Member of the European parliament

Office of Marco Cappato: Tel +32 2284 7496 - Fax +32 2284 9496 -
mcappato@europarl.eu.int


Source/Quelle: quintessenz-list Digest, Vol 14, Issue 18

Mailpanne lässt Staatsschützer auffliegen.

weiter unter:
http://www.telepolis.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/17529/1.html

Heute wurde das Flugdaten-Abkommen auch offiziell unterzeichnet. Wir gratulieren den Kommissaren Bolkestein und Patten zu dem Pallawatsch, den sie da angerichtet haben und wünschen angenehmen Ruhestand durch rasches Fortschreiten der Senilität.

Nun ist der EUGh gefordert und bald schon wird sich weisen, ob die EU-Richtlinie zum Datenschutz noch jene Bytes wert ist, in denen sie als File gespeichert ist.


Wo Europas Passagierdaten landen
Umstrittenes Abkommen heute unterzeichnet

Insgesamt 53 staatliche US-Datenbankverbünde suchen Terroristen,
Kriminelle und illegale Einwanderer | Neue Dataminingsysteme im Ministerium für Heimatschutz | Bericht des US-Rechnungshofs von heute

Heute wurde das Abkommen zwischen der EU und den USA zur Flugdaten-Übermittlung von Transatlantik-Passagieren auch offiziell unterzeichnet.

Ein ebenfalls heute in den USA veröffentlichter Rechnungshofbericht lässt absehen, was mit den persönlichen Daten europäischer Flugpassagiere geschehen wird.

Die Untersuchung des General Accounting Office ergab, dass in den verschiedensten US-Regierungstellen mehr als 120 groß angelegte Datamining-Programme, die persönliche Daten von in- und ausländischen Bürgern enthalten, in Gange sind.

Etwa die Hälfte davon soll der Verbesserung von Services bzw. technischen Abläufen dienen, insgesamt 53 Datenbankverbünde beschäftigen sich mit der Analyse großer Datenmengen sowohl aus privaten wie staatlichen Datenquellen vornehmlich aus den USA, aber auch solchen ausländischer Provenienz.

Das vorrangige Ziel ist dabei jeweils Terroristen und Kriminelle aller Art herauszufiltern bzw. die Aufenthaltsdauer von ausländischen Staatsbürgern zu kontrollieren.

Mehr davon

http://futurezone.orf.at/futurezone.orf?read=detail&id=232023

Quelle: quintessenz-list Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17