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How Has Post-9/11 Legislation Affected You?

Posted by Cliff on from the on-the-eve-of-the-aniversary dept.

goldspider asks: "I hope this is received in the spirit it was intended in. In a recent Reuters article, the Internet as a whole has been referred to as 'collateral damage' of the U.S.-led War on Terrorism, because of the perceived loss in privacy and online rights as a result of post-9/11 legislation. I am curious to hear about some specific examples of how this legislation has personally or professionally affected the everyday lives of Slashdot readers."

7 of 978 comments (clear)

  1. Well, for starters... by Soulfader · · Score: 5, Informative
    The source of the list found here:

    Overview of changes to legal rights:
    By The Associated Press

    September 5, 2002, 11:44 AM EDT

    Some of the fundamental changes to Americans' legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act following the terror attacks:

    • FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation.
    • FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests.
    • FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.
    • RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.
    • FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
    • RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
    • RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
    It's depressing when I show this list and someone says, "Wow, I had no idea it was so bad."

    It's even worse when they say "So?"

    1. Re:Well, for starters... by Telex4 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, I've heard of the marshall plan, and that wasn't within the past 50 years. Brush up on your history, and look at all of the military ventures America has been involved in sincee 1952, then you might go some way towards understanding why a lot of people hate America (and not all of them are insane, a lot of them only let their hatred out in words, rather than mindless violence).

      You can hardly attribute the UN and the fall of the USSR entirely to the USA. Hell, the USA didn't even support the League of Nations after Woodrow Wilson left the scene. Look also at the impact the IMF have had. Look also at the fact that the amount of aid the US has given as a percentage of its GNP has fallen consistently in the last 50 years.

      The only way to explain every person in the world who dislikes or disagrees with various American policies by your argument is that they are insane. Surely that should make you reasses your argument?

  2. My biggest problem is airports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Like everyone else, there's the delay...

    But, unlike most people, I use an insulin pump. Most security people aren't keen on seeing someone with a small mechanical device and tubes attached to their body. Also, the insulin, needles, lancet, etc all get a good look through. I get stopped and have my bags inspected pretty much every time I go through. It's made me use air travel as a last resort.

  3. General increase in Hate... by SmoothCriminal · · Score: 3, Informative
    Being of East Indian ethnicity, I do feel the general hate level against the asain population including Arabs/chinese/Indians.


    Though this is a small percentage, it does hurt the people in the recieving end. The economy has made things worse when few people who lose jobs blame it on the H-1Bs.


    There was a restructuring in my company and now the message boards are full of hate.


    I guess the general hate level of the people has increased and also the economy is not helping.


    God Bless America...

  4. Try being a private pilot these days by mooneyguy · · Score: 5, Informative

    You think internet interests have been hit hard by post 9/11 legislation, trying being a private pilot these days. Despite the fact that this heinous act was conducted with big planes, its the little ones (like the Mooney I own) that are the first ones to be singled out when it comes time to hand down more restrictive measures. Three days after the attacks, the commercial airliners were back in the air. We had to wait a month, and then we were so awash in new and constantly changing regulations that it was impossible to keep up. Imagine taking off for a two hour flight and having the rules change while you're airborn. It was not unusual for a flight to be legal when you took off and illegal by the time it was over. The onslaught of new rules has been so bad that the FAA will run out of 4-digit numbers with which to label them. Yes, we are rapidly approaching federal notam (notice to airman) number 9999, at which point they will have to start numbering them at 0 again.

    Remember when they announced they were restricting general aviation flights over nuclear power plants? You know what the official notice from the FAA said? The notice said we were forbidden from flying within 5 miles of a power plant, but then gave us nothing better than a vague description of where those plants were located! So we were told we had to remain clear (and if we didn't we would be intercepted by fighters and possibly shot down) but not told the locations we had to remain clear OF: just city names and vague directions, like "15 miles northwest of Anytown, IL". Even the pilot briefers we called on the phone--the very FAA representatives whose purpose in life is to tell pilots about notams--didn't understand the notices. Depending on who and when you would call you would get a different story about what was legal and what wasn't. And the ATC folks were just as confused. The tower at your departing airport would say your flight is okay, but the one at your destination would declare you in violation of some temporary flight restriction.

    Many aviation related business went bankrupt and many more are teetering on the edge as a result of this. The airlines are bad off as we all know, but the small airports are in worse shape. And we are constantly under a cloud of threatened onerous increases in security for our airports: in most cases they are security measures that make no sense at all. Imagine owning property but being subject to a security check before you were allowed to go out to it.

    Lots of folks just gave up flying, some temporarily and some permanently. I'm happy to sacrifice for my country, but the sacrifice should have some value. Most of what I've seen in the way of GA restrictions has been meaningless and senseless. And it's not really the restrictions themselves that bother me, but way in which they have been handled.

    --
    Mooney Guy N4074H
  5. Re:Well if your at college ... by SCHecklerX · · Score: 4, Informative
    The libertarian party ran an ad about that in USA Today (I think that was it..)

    Check it out:

    http://www.lp.org/action/files/!drugwar.pdf

  6. interesting report by __aahlyu4518 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can find it here. One of the things mentioned is how America becomes devided about the measures taken after 9/11, and about their privacy.