Pure Chicken Little scaremongering rubbish.
The Patriot Act gives corporations some tort protections from selling data that they *legally* collect on their customers, as well as spells out what limits are in place on arresting/surveying non-citizens.
Everything else that's been said about the Patriot Act is pure hype from frightened people with their own political agenda.
S.22 Justice Enhancement and Domestic Security Act of 2003
(Introduced in Senate) SEC. 5212. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this part are to--
(1) increase public safety by assisting law enforcement in solving more gun-related crimes and offering prosecutors evidence to link felons to gun crimes through ballistics technology;
(2) provide for ballistics testing of all new firearms for sale to assist in the identification of firearms used in crimes;
(3) require ballistics testing of all firearms in custody of Federal agencies to assist in the identification of firearms used in crimes; and
(4) add ballistics testing to existing firearms enforcement programs.
SEC. 5213. DEFINITION OF BALLISTICS.
Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(35) BALLISTICS- The term `ballistics' means a comparative analysis of fired bullets and cartridge casings to identify the firearm from which bullets were discharged, through identification of the unique characteristics that each firearm imprints on bullets and cartridge casings.'.
SEC. 5214. TEST FIRING AND AUTOMATED STORAGE OF BALLISTICS RECORDS.
(a) AMENDMENT- Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(m)(1) In addition to the other licensing requirements under this section, a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer shall--
`(A) test fire firearms manufactured or imported by such licensees as specified by the Secretary by regulation;
`(B) prepare ballistics images of the fired bullet and cartridge casings from the test fire;
`(C) make the records available to the Secretary for entry in a computerized database; and
`(D) store the fired bullet and cartridge casings in such a manner and for such a period as specified by the Secretary by regulation.
...
SEC. 5215. PRIVACY RIGHTS OF LAW ABIDING CITIZENS.
Ballistics information of individual guns in any form or database established by this part may not be used for--
(1) prosecutorial purposes unless law enforcement officials have a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed and that ballistics information would assist in the investigation of that crime; or
(2) the creation of a national firearms registry of gun owners.
"Yea sure, no firearms registry. So the owners name isn't a key for the database, it's an attribute.
...
`Sec. 931. Regulation of firearms transfers at gun shows
Speaks for itself.
Most of this bill provides for a large increase in fed involvement in law enforcement and fed redistribution of money to pet projects.
CATO