A Guide to the Patriot Act

As you must know, unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years, a number of the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act will sunset this year unless Congress extends them. The battle lines over these provisions have been drawn, with civil libertarians pushing hard for repeal and the Administration pushing hard to retain and even broaden federal investigative powers.

I am a passionate supporter of civil liberties and, having come of age during the Nixon Administration, I am deeply, deeply skeptical when the government asserts "national security" as a basis for significant privacy invasions. As a result, I was pretty much dead set against the Patriot Act even when first adopted shortly after 9/11, and I have become even more opposed since then as I have watched the Bush administration's aggressive moralism and the influence the Religious Right has over that Administration.

Still, I must confess with some embarrassment that my opposition has been purely instinctive. I have never read the Act itself, nor have I even tried to learn from other sources what it actually does or does not do. I decided to rectify that today, but was dismayed to find that it is several hundred pages long. So, to try and ease my way into this effort, I decided to look for an analysis. That took a while, since most of what is written about the Act is either very superficial or pure screed -- or both. However, after some looking, I did find an excellent four part summary and analysis that was published in Slate. To save all of you the trouble of looking yourself, here are the links:

Patriot Act, Part 1
Patriot Act, Part 2
Patriot Act, Part 3
Patriot Act, Part 4

I urge you to read all four parts. Then, if you're really into it, you can read the Act itself here.