Many students are aware of the PATRIOT Act and some of its provisions. However, many remain uninformed regarding the proposed Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act and how its implementation could change modifications the Patriot Act made to U.S. law.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin,D-Ill., sponsors the SAFE act along with fellow Sens. Larry Craig, R-Ind., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., acting as co-sponsors. The legislators introduced the SAFE Act in October 2003 to counteract the PATRIOT Act.

The purpose of the SAFE Act as stated in the proposed bill is “to amend the USA PATRIOT Act to place reasonable limitations on the use of surveillance and the issuance of search warrants,” per the legislation.

There is strong bipartisan support against several controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act, one of which allows the FBI to scrutinize law-abiding Americans without “adequate judicial oversight,” according to a Feingold release.

“There are certain aspects of the PATRIOT Act perceived to be flawed,” University of Wisconsin chancellor John Wiley said. “Parts of the PATRIOT Act are potentially unconstitutional, and those sections would be removed by the SAFE Act. I believe it is something positive to focus on.”

Section 206 of the PATRIOT Act gives federal law enforcement the authorization to obtain previously prohibited roving wiretaps for intelligence reasons. Included in section 213 of the PATRIOT Act is the authority for the FBI to conduct delayed notification (“sneak and peak”) searches without notifying the suspect until after the search has been completed.

The SAFE Act would impose limits on sections 206 and 213 of the PATRIOT Act but not entirely do away with them.

Students could face threats of arrest from the new power the government wields from the PATRIOT Act, mainly drafted in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Sami Omar al-Hussayen, a Saudi Arabian graduate student in a small college in Idaho currently faces charges brought forward with the aid of the PATRIOT Act. Government officials charged him for setting up a Muslim website allegedly connected to terrorism.

The SAFE Act would also amend Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. It would restore the pre-PATRIOT requirement that “specific and articulable facts” must exist in order to have a court allow the government to obtain records of an international terrorist or spy. The SAFE Act also requests section 505 of the PATRIOT Act be amended to exclude libraries from the available resources FBI agents can use to obtain personal records without judicial approval.

“Librarians are very much opposed to the provisions of the PATRIOT Act that allow for law enforcement and people operating under the act to demand records of library users without the safeguards that previously existed,” University of Wisconsin professor of Library and Information Studies Louise Robbins said. “The SAFE Act would certainly be an improvement.”

The final section of the SAFE Act would expand the PATRIOT Act’s sunset provisions to include four additional sections of the PATRIOT Act that are set to expire Dec. 31, 2005.

“This bipartisan bill should be a wake-up call to the administration: It’s time to address the legitimate and honest concerns about the PATRIOT Act,” Feingold said in a release.

In October 2001, Senator Feingold was the only member of the U.S. Senate to vote against the passage of the PATRIOT Act.

Others, such as UW sophomore Paul Maier, see the PATRIOT Act as a necessary measure. Maier said he thinks the SAFE Act would only inhibit the government’s ability to track and capture terrorists.

“In times of crisis we [Americans] should give way to our government so they can protect our freedoms and liberties for the future,” Maier said.

Conversely, UW sophomore Caitlin Iverson views the PATRIOT Act as an infringement on civil rights.

“I question our government’s ulterior motives of the PATRIOT Act,” Iverson said. “I think they want to use it to find damaging evidence against people committed of crimes, not necessarily even associated with terrorism. [The SAFE Act] would be a step in the right direction.”