Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag

Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag
Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus 2004-10-12

He may not have trashed any hotel rooms, but U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft spent over $200,000 of taxpayer money in a four-week, 31-city tour last year promoting the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, according to a report by Congressional auditors released Tuesday.

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-13
Anonymous (3 replies)

It is a wonder that the cost is justified. It is a very small amount, but it does show the politics of getting laws passed. The PA has some good 'ideas' that should remain ideas and not be put in to practice.

In a free society, there are always difficulties catching the people who will use the fr...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-13
Anonymous (6 replies)

I agree completely that the internet and everyone on it needs to be held more accountable and there needs to be structure in place that allows easier tracking of what is going on. The internet is built upon the telecom infrastructure that has things in place to track calling and various other commun...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Anonymous

in the US your guilty till proven innocent. they might as well put a barcode or microchip in my neck. Why doesnt the govenment just tell us what to do (when to sleep, eat, work, ect..). If this bill gets passed, there will be more bills just like it but worse. the guy that wrote the prev. 2 statemet...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Anonymous

What's sad is that we have the kind of naieve posers whose comments belie either youthful ignorance or worse, outright stupidity.

Both posters are in need to be schooled, history specifically, with maybe a bit of sociology and psychology mixed in for more depth and a clue. There's the famous say...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Anonymous (1 replies)

But who will keep the government honest? They held a guy for 2 years without charging him or allowing him representation or contact with anyone. He is an American citizen, did nothing wrong and was finally released....

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-18
Anonymous

Kevin Mitnick anybody? how about Dimiti Skylarov? or Bernie S, go read up on them before you go extoling the virtues of the US Gov't's wonderful anti-terrorism, anti-piracy, laws to keep the american public all safely wrapped in cotton wool (sic).

Bernie S in particular, has/had a number of books...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-16
Anonymous

Are you really that sure you're not breaking any laws? Are you sure what you're doing today won't be against the law tomorrow? Not so long ago we had a law that protected us from gratuitous search and seizure. It was called the constitution. Your confidence that you don't need protection from th...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-18
Anonymous

Errr I do believe that the PRIMARY reason for the creation of the ARPAnet was to FACILITATE information dissemination, the REASON "that it was put in place without any real safeguards against cyberterrorism or organized crime" is that there was no NEED for it in the past, granted the apearance of "c...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-19
Tom Jennings

"...I'm not breaking the law, I don't care if gov't is tracking me..."

You're missing the point. Gov't doesn't always play fair, there is a well-documented record of severe abuse of law-enforcement (for ex.) power to track/interfere w/people and groups some gov't people find inimical to their int...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Anonymous (1 replies)

Riiiight. Because police states always work out so well for the population. That is what you're talking about, you know, when the government can track everything you do and say online. Good thinking there friend....

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Anonymous (1 replies)

So that is why we are sending some of our special prisoners to other countries [where they can be tortured]. That makes us all better doesn't it?

If there is nothing to hide - then an Internet 'license' does not bother me in the slightest.

The Internet has changed. The world has changed. Thing...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-15
Anonymous

Internet license huh? You don't have any problem with being tapped until paramilitary secret policy kick down your door, kick your teeth in, destroy your property, interrogates your friends and neighbors and drag your name through the mud, and essentially destroying your naieve life as you knew i...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Benjamin Franklin (1 replies)

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Ben...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-14
Anonymous (1 replies)

What is essential about Internet access? Turn it off and go outside to play......

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-20
Anonymous

I do believe you're missing the point he didn't say "They that can give that which is essential" he said "essential LIBERTY" and this is the nub of the matter....

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-19
Anonymous (1 replies)

It's not about internet access - it's about freedom of expression, thought and the essential rights that this nation was founded on. Remember the Constitution? the doctrine that the president's primary oath is to defend?

The need for anonymous speech is real and essential in our society. People ...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-20
Anonymous (1 replies)

Wasn't McCarthy right about the communists?

In 1995, when the VENONA transcripts were declassified, it was learned that regardless of the specific number, McCarthy consistently underestimated the extent of Soviet espionage. VENONA specifically references at least 349 people in the United States...

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Patriot Act tour carried a hefty price tag 2004-10-22
Ydefined

349 People? So damn what? Compared to the thousands if not tens of thousands falsely prosecuted under the label of "communist" for having done absolutely nothing more than been on the wrong side of someone else's personal vendetta?

McCarthyism was a witch hunt of the greatest magnitude in the ...

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