Cincy Post: Secret Law, Secret Lawsuit (ACLU Against Patriot Act)

[liveoaktx]

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/04/30/edita043004.html
To no one's surprise, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the constitutionality of parts of the USA Patriot Act, the sweeping security law passed in the immediate aftermath of 9-11.
To what should be everyone's shock, the mere fact of the lawsuit was kept secret under provisions of the act.

"It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," said the ACLU. Remarkable and also scary.

The Bush administration insists that the Patriot Act is vital to fighting terrorism, but, aside from Attorney General John Ashcroft's sheltered and uninformative tour before screened audiences, refuses to say precisely how. One of the disturbing aspects of this administration is that it seems to believe that how it manages the people's business is none of the people's business

[hang a left]

1. Well I remember reading this yesterday.

snip The FBI, through a National Security Letter, apparently was seeking from an Internet service provider a client's billing information, online purchases and e-mail addresses.

National Security Letters are a kind of subpoena that doesn't require a judge's approval, only the FBI's say-so, to covertly obtain personal information from banks, telephone companies, Internet providers, libraries, credit bureaus, etc. Recipients of NSLs are barred by a gag order from disclosing that they have received one. The Patriot Act greatly eased the restrictions on NSLs so that the FBI could act quickly in national security cases. snip

anyone want to make a guess as to what type of product or service this intenet based business was offering. I have a couple of ideas, anyone else?