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IN THIS ISSUE:
-- Patriot II No Friend of Liberty
-- New ACLU Advertisement Calls on Ashcroft to Stop Assault on Civil Liberties
-- News: Privacy Victory! Tell All Adoption Law
-- What YOU Can Do to Protect Our Freedoms

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The Department of Justice has been drafting the new legislation -- called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 -- in secret over the past several months. It contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers.
This bill would severely diminish basic checks and balances on the power of the executive branch of government and continue a love affair with untested and likely ineffective security measures, which will, in addition to not making America any safer, infringe on basic liberties -- especially personal privacy and the freedoms of speech, association and religion.
The ACLU is getting the word out about the dangers of the new Ashcroft proposal with a full-page advertisement in The New York Times. The ad will run this Tuesday, February 25. Look for it.

To read more about the draft legislation and review the ACLU’s in-depth analysis of the draft bill, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=11817&c=206&MX=716&H=0

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NEW ACLU ADVERTISEMENT CALLS ON ASHCROFT TO STOP ASSAULT ON CIVIL LIBERTIES
In a hard-hitting new national print advertisement that depicts the Attorney General as an extremist "editor" of the Bill of Rights, the ACLU is calling on the American people to "stop the Ashcroft assault on our civil liberties."
"Today, the government can get a secret warrant to search your home without telling you until long afterwards," the advertisement reads. "Today, the government can monitor your Internet use, read your emails, examine your online purchases with minimal judicial oversight. Today, you can be detained without access to a lawyer, without being charged with a crime. Today, John Ashcroft has authorized the FBI to monitor your political activities, to send agents into your house of worship. We can only guess what tomorrow will bring."
The new print advertisement, which will run in several national publications over the next few months -- is part of "Keep America Safe and Free," a $3.5 million national ACLU campaign to safeguard the freedoms that Attorney General Ashcroft and the Bush Administration have targeted since the terrorist attacks. The campaign -- the biggest in the organization's 83-year history -- includes for the first time paid television as well as print advertising and a massive mobilization of ACLU members and supporters.

Click here to view a full-size image of advertisement:
http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=11761&MX=716&H=0

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NEWS
PRIVACY VICTORY: CONGRESS CURBS PENTAGON DATA PROGRAM!
The ACLU hailed legislation limiting the Pentagon's TIA cyber-surveillance program as a critical victory for privacy.
As part of an omnibus appropriations measure, Congress halted development of the program for 90 days. During this time, the Pentagon must report to Congress on the viability, cost and impact to civil liberties and privacy of the system.
The amendment is a critical first step, but the ACLU is continuing efforts to eliminate TIA and limit the implementation of similar data mining programs.
Learn more:
http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacylist.cfm?c=130&MX=716&H=0

ACLU ASKS FLORIDA COURT TO STRIKE TELL-ALL-ADOPTION LAW
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Denouncing the Sexual History Newspaper Notice provision of Florida’s adoption law as an egregious violation of privacy, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the state’s District Court of Appeal to strike the requirement. “This provision is a 21st century sequel to the Scarlet Letter,” said Mariann Meier Wang, an attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “It serves no purpose other than to publicly humiliate and harass women.”
At issue is a provision of Florida's adoption law that requires a mother to make public her sexual history if she wishes to place her child with a private adoption agency but does not know the identity or whereabouts of the father.
More about this case, including the ACLU brief, is available online at:
http://www.aclu.org/ReproductiveRights/ReproductiveRights.cfm?ID=11847&c=30&MX=716&H=0

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