September 24, 2001

CONTACT: Kent McNaughton
Public Information Director,
The Libertarian Party of Colorado

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LP Condemns Anti-Freedom Act

The Libertarian Party of Colorado strongly condemns the fast-moving bill called "The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001" as a threat to freedom.

This bill, written by the Department of Justice (DOJ), further extends the power of the government to authorize warrantless wiretaps, monitor e-mail correspondence, trace Internet addresses (URLs) visited, allows the permanent jailing of aliens without judicial review or appeals to habeas corpus, allows the government to trade illicitly obtained information with foreign governments--thereby avoiding constraints placed upon it by U.S. law, and expands the list of property which may be seized and forfeited.

"This bill is a heinous assault on liberty," said John Berntson, Libertarian Party of Colorado chairman. "It is beyond repair of amending. It must be defeated. We call on Coloradans of all political persuasions to call and write your U.S. Senators and Representatives and register your opposition to this terrible bill. We are disgusted that in a time of national peril, the Attorney General of the United States would aim a javelin of this sort at America's reason for being--our liberty."

Dave Kopel, an analyst for the Independence Institute, wrote of the bill "When (legislators) read the proposed new DOJ bill, they will find much that is unnecessary, and more that is a serious threat to the Bill of Rights."

Mr. Kopel references the federally produced Wiretap Report (http://www.uscourts.gov/wiretap00/contents.html) which is produced under provisions of a previous federal wiretap law. Kopel explains the report "...summarizes statistics about the year's Wiretap Act surveillance." and writes "These reports show conclusively that the Wiretap Act is almost wholly unrelated to terrorism. While wiretaps are up over 600% since 1980, only about 1 in 500 wiretaps involves homicide or arson, the primary terrorist offenses. About three-fourths of wiretaps are for drugs.

"The DOJ bill proposes a host of Wiretap Act expansions which are not limited to terrorism investigations, and which vastly increase the power of the federal government to conduct surveillance of the reading habits and correspondence of the American people," wrote Mr. Kopel.

House Committee hearings are scheduled for Friday, Senate hearings for Tuesday. The DOJ is demanding the bill be enacted by the end of the week.

The bill itself can be found at http://www.cdt.org/security/010920bill_text.pdf

Analyses and critiques of the bill by various civil liberty groups can be found at http://www.cdt.org/security/010911response.shtml