Terror Bill Clears Senate
In a series of votes ending at midnight Thursday, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly defeated the last-ditch efforts by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) to limit police surveillance powers.
The Senate then voted 96-1 for the unaltered USA Act (PDF), which includes the biggest eavesdropping expansion in a generation. Feingold was the lone dissenter.
Feingold said: "We will lose that war (on terrorism) without a shot being fired if we sacrifice the liberty of the American people."
the USA Act expands police's ability to access any type of stored or "tangible" information.
the USA Act says that system administrators should be able to monitor anyone they deem a "computer trespasser
Barred police from obtaining a court order, sneaking into a suspect's home, and not notifiying that person they had been there
allows police to conduct Internet eavesdropping without a court order in some circumstances, lets federal prosecutors imprison non-citizens for extended periods,
clipped from: www.wired.com