POST CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA .

SEVEN FEDERAL JUDGES FILE STATEMENT ATTACKING KEY PARTS OF BUSH'S
TERRORIST LAW

AP - Seven retired federal judges from both political parties have
joined dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees in urging an appeals court to
declare key parts of President Bush's new anti-terrorism law
unconstitutional. The judges, in a rare court filing, said stripping
courts of the right to question how the military handles terrorism
suspects "challenges the integrity of our judicial system" and
effectively sanctions the use of torture. . .

http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomWashington-TopStories/~3/44275861/
2006-11-02-guantanamo-detainees_x.htm

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FEDS CAN SEIZE LAPTOPS WITHOUT CAUSE AT BORDERS

JOE SHARKEY, NEW YORK TIMES - A lot of business travelers are walking
around with laptops that contain private corporate information that
their employers really do not want outsiders to see. . . Now there's a
new worry--that the laptop will be seized or its contents scrutinized at
U.S. customs and immigration checkpoints upon entering the United States
from abroad.

Although much of the evidence for the confiscations remains anecdotal,
it's a hot topic among more than 1,000 corporate-travel managers and
travel industry officials meeting in Barcelona, Spain, at a conference
of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

Last week, an informal survey by the association, which has about 2,500
members worldwide, indicated that almost 90 percent of its members were
not aware that customs officials have the authority to scrutinize the
contents of travelers' laptops and even confiscate laptops for a period
of time, without giving a reason.

"One member who responded to our survey said she has been waiting for a
year to get her laptop and its contents back," said Susan Gurley, the
group's executive director. "She said it was randomly seized. And since
she hasn't been arrested, I assume she was just a regular business
traveler, not a criminal."

Appeals are under way in some cases, but the law is clear. "They don't
need probable cause to perform these searches under the current law.
They can do it without suspicion or without really revealing their
motivations," said Tim Kane, a Washington lawyer who is researching the
matter for corporate clients.

In some cases, random inspections of laptops have yielded evidence of
possession of child pornography. Laptops may be scrutinized and subject
to a "forensic analysis" under the so-called border search exemption,
which allows searches of people entering the United States and their
possessions "without probable cause, reasonable suspicion or a warrant,"
a federal court ruled in July.

http://digg.com/business_finance/Laptops_Have_No_Right_To_Privacy_At_U_S_Borders

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MORE FBI SPYING ON PEACE GROUPS REVEALED

GREGORY D. KESICH, PORTLAND PRESS HERALD - The FBI has released more
documents connected to Maine peace groups, leading local activists to
say they have been targeted for surveillance for opposing the
government. . . There are no secrets in the latest Maine messages. They
outline mundane details of organizing a demonstration and were
distributed widely to members of the organizations and forwarded
repeatedly, both to individual recipients and group e-mail lists. But
the fact that they were collected at all is troubling to MCLU Executive
Director Shenna Bellows, who said she is reminded of the FBI's
infiltration of civil rights and peace groups during the 1960s. . .
Bellows said Wednesday. "Suddenly, the FBI is once again accumulating
files on people who have engaged in nothing more than criticizing the
policies of their government."

An FBI spokeswoman said Bellows and the peace activists are jumping to
conclusions. "We have absolutely no interest in investigating
individuals or groups that are engaging in exercising their
constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of
assembly," said Nenette Day, who works in the FBI office in Boston.
"They are assuming that if we have a file, there must be an
investigation," she said. "That jump can't be made.". . .

Sally Breen, a member of Peace Action Maine, said the fact that the FBI
collects these documents has a chilling affect on protesters. Speaking
at a press conference in Portland on Wednesday, Breen said she had
already heard from people unwilling to attend demonstrations because
they might be exposed to attention from the government. "They are afraid
that they'll be targeted," she said. "Fear tactics are not (part of) the
America we want to live in." Jack Bussell, a Veterans for Peace member
who wrote one of the original messages, said he is troubled that the FBI
also knows the names and e-mail addresses of everyone he contacted.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/061026fbi.html