# Has the USA PATRIOT Act been abused by the authorities? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 7, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-usa-patriot-act-been-abused-by-the-authorities/436722 "2008-02-07T20:29:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-usa-patriot-act-been-abused-by-the-authorities/436722/1 "2008-02-07T20:29:11Z")
Sort of a followup to [this current thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=453671) I ran [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=251368) [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=349940) on this question in 2005, and nobody seemed to have any really chilling examples to bring. Since then, have the feared abuses of the [USA PATRIOT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa_patriot_act) (all caps – remember, it’s an acronym, a very labored one) Act actually emerged? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-usa-patriot-act-been-abused-by-the-authorities/436722/2 "2008-02-07T20:59:09Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Sort of a followup to [this current thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=453671) I ran [two](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=251368) [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=349940) on this question in 2005, and nobody seemed to have any really chilling examples to bring. Since then, have the feared abuses of the [USA PATRIOT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa_patriot_act) (all caps – remember, it’s an acronym, a very labored one) Act actually emerged? [/QUOTE] Wasn’t it defeated four days ago? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-usa-patriot-act-been-abused-by-the-authorities/436722/3 "2008-02-07T21:17:22Z")
[QUOTE=kidchameleon] Wasn’t it defeated four days ago? [/QUOTE] Eh? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-usa-patriot-act-been-abused-by-the-authorities/436722/4 "2008-02-07T21:28:01Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Eh? [/QUOTE] Oh, sorry that was the New England Patriots. All these spying things confuse me at times. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-usa-patriot-act-been-abused-by-the-authorities/436722/5 "2008-02-07T21:50:31Z")
To cross-post from the other thread: The most obvious example is [Brandon Mayfield](http://ord.uscourts.gov/rulings/04-cv-1427Opinion.pdf) [PDF warning]. Other examples include (from the ACLU): > [@](#): > > The act has been misused to… > > - Charge, detain, and prosecute a Muslim student in Idaho, Sami al-Hussayen, for providing “material support” to terrorists because he posted to an Internet website links to objectionable materials, even though such links were available on the websites of a major news outlet and of the government’s own expert witness in the case. > - Serve a National Security Letter (NSL) on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) so coercive under the provisions of the NSL statue that a federal court struck down the entire statute - as vastly expanded by the Patriot Act - used to obtain information about e-mail activity and web surfing for intelligence investigations. > - Gag that ISP from disclosing this abuse to the public, and gag the ACLU itself, which represents the ISP, from disclosing this abuse to the public when ACLU became aware of it, and from disclosing important circumstances relating to this abuse and other possible abuses of the gag, even to this very day. > - Investigate and prosecute crimes that are not terrorism offenses, even though it cited terrorism prevention as the reason Congress should enact the law, and cites terrorism prevention as the reason why it cannot be changed. Noting especially that the act has been used to suppress information about abuse of the act.