Editorial: Opposition gaining on Patriot Act

Friday, Dec. 2, 2005 | 7:30 a.m.

The effort to renew the USA Patriot Act is uniting some unlikely partners, as American corporations join civil libertarians in demanding more accountability from the law that allows government agents secret access to confidential information on citizens.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Financial Services Roundtable and the National Association of Realtors have joined the American Civil Liberties Union in opposing the act that Congress hopes to renew before it expires Dec. 31.

Corporate America -- the Bush administration's bedrock -- wants law enforcement officers and FBI agents to offer firm proof that the confidential information they request on suppliers, customers and employees has a connection to a specific terror investigation.

And companies don't want to be charged with a felony if they tell someone his or her information has been requested, which also has been proposed.

Congress passed the hastily crafted USA Patriot Act a few weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, broadening the authority of FBI agents to investigate U.S. residents who may have done nothing more than check out a Web site or library book the FBI considers suspect.

The FBI may now demand information on citizens with "national security letters," which were created in the 1970s to investigate suspected foreign spies. FBI agents threatened to issue such letters in Las Vegas in December 2003 when casino executives balked at handing over gaming and personal information on tourists celebrating New Year's Eve.

Business leaders say companies receive tens of thousands of these letters each year, and complying is too costly. In a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, one banker said that 15 percent of her institution's annual operating costs are spent on Patriot Act compliance.

Business leaders announced their opposition as a House-Senate conference committee hammered out the revisions. The move has slowed approval of a final version and angered the Bush administration, which called business leaders to remind them of the tax cuts and other pro-business legislation it has enacted, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It has never been right, decent or fair to perform secret investigations on thousands of innocent people, hoping to catch the bad guys by simply casting a wide net. Now, big business, which speaks the only language the Bush administration seems to understand, says it also costs too much.

Whatever works. Congress may have to finally admit that this massive violation of Americans' basic rights just isn't good business -- for anyone.