Your credit report and the US PATRIOT Act

Earlier today, Congress voted to extend the Patriot Act for five more weeks. Sixteen provisions of this act were set to expire on December 31, including one section allowing roving wiretaps, and the review and sharing of library and medical records without a court order. Although these sections have received the most media attention, another provision, Section 505 will not expire. Section 505 of the Patriot Act allows government agencies to obtain a variety of consumer records without a court order by simply writing a "national security letter."

As anyone who has read their credit report knows, the information in a credit report is detailed and often inaccurate. Old addresses, crossed records and incorrect employment histories are very common on credit reports and could lead to major complications under Section 505. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that anyone who uses your credit report must inform you of that your report has been reviewed, explain your rights, and detail any adverse action that will result from the credit check. However, under Section 505, government agencies do not have to comply with these regulations. The Patriot Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act in two important ways: (1) It requires a consumer reporting agency to furnish all information in a consumer's file to a government agency upon certification that the records are relevant to intelligence or counterintelligence activities related to international terrorism.; and (2) it precludes a consumer reporting agency from telling a consumer that his or her report was accessed for this purpose.

What is terrorism? Sec. 802 of the Patriot Act amends the federal criminal code to: (1) revise the definition of "international terrorism" to include activities that appear to be intended to affect the conduct of government by mass destruction; and (2) define "domestic terrorism" as activities that occur primarily within U.S. jurisdiction, that involve criminal acts dangerous to human life, and that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence government policy by intimidation or coercion, or to affect government conduct by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.

This means that government agencies can order the phone logs, email records, bank account information and full credit reports of US citizens, based on ‘appearances’ even if there isn’t enough evidence to obtain a search warrant. There is no judicial oversight of these requests and there is no requirement that the federal agencies, accessing and sharing consumer records, must ever inform the consumer that their records were accessed. It is no surprise that the ACLU has challenged the practices of Section 505 as a violation of the First (freedom of speech) and Fourth Amendments (no unreasonable searches).

To learn more about this issue visit the ACLU, ChecksandBalances.org, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Slate.com included Section 505 in their review of the most frightening parts of the Patriot Act or Senator Lisa Murkowski online.

Posted by Valary Miller on December 23, 2005 at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As anyone who has read their credit report knows, the information in a credit report is detailed and often inaccurate. Old addresses, crossed records and incorrect employment histories are very common on credit reports and could lead to major complications under Section 505. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that anyone who uses your credit report must inform you of that your report has been reviewed, explain your rights, and detail any adverse action that will result from the credit check. However, under Section 505, government agencies do not have to comply with these regulations. The Patriot Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act in two important ways: (1) It requires a consumer reporting agency to furnish all information in a consumer's file to a government agency upon certification that the records are relevant to intelligence or counterintelligence activities related to international terrorism.; and (2) it precludes a consumer reporting agency from telling a consumer that his or her report was accessed for this purpose.

What is terrorism? Sec. 802 of the Patriot Act amends the federal criminal code to: (1) revise the definition of "international terrorism" to include activities that appear to be intended to affect the conduct of government by mass destruction; and (2) define "domestic terrorism" as activities that occur primarily within U.S. jurisdiction, that involve criminal acts dangerous to human life, and that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence government policy by intimidation or coercion, or to affect government conduct by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.

This means that government agencies can order the phone logs, email records, bank account information and full credit reports of US citizens, based on ‘appearances’ even if there isn’t enough evidence to obtain a search warrant. There is no judicial oversight of these requests and there is no requirement that the federal agencies, accessing and sharing consumer records, must ever inform the consumer that their records were accessed. It is no surprise that the ACLU has challenged the practices of Section 505 as a violation of the First (freedom of speech) and Fourth Amendments (no unreasonable searches).

To learn more about this issue visit the ACLU, ChecksandBalances.org, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Slate.com included Section 505 in their review of the most frightening parts of the Patriot Act or Senator Lisa Murkowski online.