Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 07:45:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: belmonte@MIT.EDU (Matthew Belmonte)
To: senator@kennedy.senate.gov
Subject: support S.1552, a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Dear Senator Kennedy

I hope that you'll use your position on the Judiciary Committee to support
S.1552, a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to reinstate
civil liberties protections which were removed two years ago by the USA
PATRIOT Act.  In particular, S.1552 would limit the conditions under which
secret searches can be authorised, would prevent the classification of acts of
political protest as "terrorism", would eliminate roving wiretaps, would
protect Internet users in public libraries from being secretly monitored, and
would protect the records of bookstores and other businesses against blanket
inspection.  S.1552 would also place a moratorium on data-mining and require
the Attorney General to report regularly on his department's use of wiretaps
and searches.

Your support for S.1552 would be a step towards making up for the mistake that
you made in voting for the USA PATRIOT Act two years ago.  I hope that you'll
make every effort to move S.1552 through the Judiciary Committee intact, and
that you may consider co-sponsoring S.1552.

Matthew Belmonte
[address]