The Electronice Frontier Foundation has posted an action alert about Ashcroft’s proposed Surveillance Legislation in Congress. Wil then summarized it, and now I’m summarizing that, and just to wrap it all up, I’ll summarize my summary:

This is scary stuff. Historically, those in the government have always used national tension to expand their ability to police others, and this is no exception.

One section of the Department of Justice’s analysis of the proposed legislation: “United States prosecutors may use against American citizens information collected by a foreign government even if the collection would have violated the Fourth Amendment.”

Operating from abroad, foreign governments will do the dirty work of spying on the communications of Americans worldwide. US protections against unreasonable search and seizure won’t matter.

The Act also includes measures which:

• make it possible to obtain e-mail message header information and Internet user web browsing patterns without a wiretap order
• eviscerate controls on roving wiretaps
• permit grand juries to provide information to the US intelligence community
• permit the President to designate any “foreign-directed individual, group, or entity,” including any United States citizen or organization, as a target for FISA surveillance
• prevent people from even talking about terrorist acts

The EFF page I mentioned at the top has links on their page to voice concern over this bill. If you are concerned, or even curious, I urge you to at least read more about the bill on their site, and ACT, if your concience leads you that way.