Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Friday September 07, 2007 15:56 by pat c

A small victory, part of the "Patriot" Act has been declared unconstitutional. Now the FBI etc will have to get a court order before they can secretly obtain records from ISPs.

A federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act on Thursday, saying investigators must have a court's approval before they can order Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten Patriot Act "offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers."

Jameel Jaffer, who argued the case for the ACLU, said the revised law had wrongly given the FBI sweeping authority to control speech because the agency was allowed to decide on its own - without court review - whether a company receiving an NSL had to remain silent or whether it could reveal to its customers that it was turning over records.