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Patriot Act's technology-related sections to be scrutinized

Declan McCullagh Former Senior Writer
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
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Declan McCullagh

The march of Patriot Act hearings continues today.

Because many portions of the controversial post-9/11 law expire at the end of 2005, Congress is holding a series of hearings to take a look at each one.

Under the magnifying glass on Thursday before the House Judiciary crime subcommittee are three tech-related sections: 209, 217, and 220.

Section 209 lets police gain access more easily to voicemail you listened to and saved on a provider's system.

And the other two sections, quoting from the hearing announcement:

-Section 217 allows victims of computer attacks to authorize persons "acting under color of law" to monitor trespassers on their computer systems in a narrow class of cases. Prior to the enactment of the USA Patriot Act, a computer owner could monitor unauthorized attacks, but it was unclear as to whether a victim of computer trespassing was allowed to request law enforcement assistance in such monitoring.

-Section 220 allows for a nationwide service of search warrants for electronic evidence. This section did not affect the requirement for a search warrant, but rather addressed the investigative delays caused by the cross-jurisdictional nature of the Internet.

Section 217 isn't terribly controversial -- it seems to be one of those rare sections of the act that just makes sense and nobody really objects to (except perhaps computer trespassers). That's not exactly the case with the other two. Check out a well-written exchange at PatriotDebates.com.