ThePatriot Actcontinues to work its mayhem on polite liberties . Section 213 was included in the Patriot Act over the protests of privateness advocates and accord jurisprudence enforcement the power to convey a search while delay notice to the suspect of the search . know as a “ sneak and peek ” warrant , natural law enforcement wasadamantSection 213 was needed to protect against terrorism . But the latest government news report detail the bit of “ hook and peek ” indorsement reveals that out of a total of over 11,000 canary and peep requests , only 51 were used for terrorism . Yet again , terrorism concern come along to be trampling our civic liberty .
Throughout the Patriot Act moot the Department of JusticeurgedCongress to pass Section 213 because it need the sneak and vertex power to facilitate investigate and prosecute terrorism crimes “ without tipping off terrorists . ” In 2005 , FBI Director Robert Muellercontinuedthe same accurate talking compass point , emphasizing sneak and peek warrants were “ an priceless tool in the state of war on terror and our effort to battle serious criminal doings . ”
A closer looking at the figure of canary and peek sanction issued ( a reportage requirement imposed by Congress ) shows this is just not the case . The last in public available written report about snitcher and peek warrants was released in2010 ; however , the Administrative Office of the US Courts has finally release account from2011,2012 , and2013 .
What do the reports reveal ? Two things : 1 ) there has been an tremendous increase in the use of stalker and peek warrants and 2 ) they are rarely used for terrorism suit .
First , the numbers : Law enforcement made 47 sneak - and - peek hunting across the country from September 2001 to April 2003 . The 2010 report uncover 3,970 total petition were processed . Within three years that number jumped to 11,129 . That ’s an increment of over 7,000 requests . Exactly what privacy advocatesarguedin 2001 is happen : sneak and bill countenance are not just being used in particular circumstances — which was their original intention — but as an mundane investigatory tool .
Second , the uses : Out of the 3,970 total requests from October 1 , 2009 to September 30 , 2010 , 3,034 were for narcotics cases and only 37 for terrorism cases ( about .9 % ) . Since then , the numbers get worse . The 2011 report reveals a total of 6,775 requests . 5,093 were used for drug , while only 31 ( or .5 % ) were used for act of terrorism case . The 2012 report follows a like approach pattern : Only .6 % , or 58 petition , deal with terrorism grammatical case . The 2013 theme confirms the improbably low routine . Out of 11,129 theme only 51 , or .5 % , of postulation were used for terrorism . The majority of requests were overpoweringly for narcotic case , which tap out at 9,401 requests .
Section 213 may be less known than Section 215 of the Patriot Act ( the article the politics is presently using tocollect your phone records ) , but it ’s just as important . The Supreme Court rein inWilson v. ArkansasandRichards v. Wisconsinthat the Fourth Amendment requires police to generally “ knock and announce ” their entry into dimension as a means of notify a householder of a search . The theme was to give the owner an chance to insist their Fourth Amendment right . The court also explained that the rule could give way in situations where evidence was under threat of wipeout or there were concerns for officer safety . Section 213 codified this practice into statute , take delay notice from a relatively rare natural event into standard operating law enforcement procedure .
The Book of Numbers vindicate seclusion proponent whourgedCongress to shelve Section 213 during the Patriot Act debates . advocate of Section 213 claimed sneak and peek warrants were needed to protect against terrorism . But just like we ’ve seen elsewhere , these claims are false . The administration willcontinue to arguefor more surveillance federal agency — like the pauperism to update theCommunications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act — under the pretence of terrorism . But before we engage in any updates , the populace must be convinced such updates are take and wo n’t be used for non - terrorist purposes that chip off away at our civic autonomy .
This articlefirst appear on Electronic Frontier Foundationand republish here under Creative Commons license .
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