Nevertheless, whatever position you take on these issues, it is important to know how the new law will affect your life online.The Patriot Act is complex and powerful. It broadens the definition of terrorism and increases the penalties for terrorism. Some of the more sweeping changes involve electronic surveillance. The act permits federal investigators to use more-powerful tools to monitor phone calls, e-mail messages, and even Web surfing. We all hope that means agents will be better able to arrest terrorists and foil their plans. But the changes also mean we now have even less guarantee of privacy on the Net. The new law, along with new surveillance tools, will create a dragnet wide enough that anyone's e-mail note, text chat, or search inquiry might be snared.( Pcworld consumer watch)It's difficult to say exactly that what are the implications of this new type of surveillance. The Patriot Act is vague on many key points and understandably, law enforcement officials are not eager to reveal details about tools like the controversial Internet surveillance system, Carnivore and The magic lantern. It is probably fair to say that joking in an e-mail about planting a bomb is a very bad idea these days. And researching biological terror techniques over the Internet could conceivably draw suspicion. The new law opens the door for increased use of tools like Magic lantern and Carnivore and similar broad-based electronic surveillance systems. (Pc world consumer). Magic Lantern will allow an agent to plant a keystroke logger in a specific computer by using a virus-like program. Once activated, the logger will capture words and numbers as a subject types them (before encryption kicks in), and will transmit them back to the agent. Magic Lantern will give the agency unprecedented access to digital communications.The program goes too far, however. More than just getting into your data, it lets the FBI get "into your brain." (PC world). The program...
