Weekly column: Patriot Act "conference report" larded with irrelevancies (4/4) [priv]

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2005/12/08/patriot-act-update/

Text of conference report:
http://news.com.com/pdf/ne/2005/Final_Conference_Report.pdf

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http://news.com.com/Must+we+renew+the+Patriot+Act/2010-1028_3-5989887.html

Perspective:  Must we renew the Patriot Act?
By Declan McCullagh
December 12, 2005, 4:00 AM PST

What do mandatory drug testing, cigarette taxes and methamphetamine 
restrictions have to do with protecting America from terrorists?

As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing." But they nevertheless 
appear in a 219-page proposed law to renew the Patriot Act that 
Republicans have scheduled for a vote this week.

A fraction--a mere 16 sections--of the Patriot Act's awesome 
surveillance powers expire Dec. 31. They expanded secret methods the FBI 
can use to obtain business records; authorized more information sharing 
between Internet providers and police; and listed computer hacking as an 
offense permitting increased eavesdropping.

[...remainder snipped...]
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