Summary

1. Chinese police authorities may conduct surveillance and searches against its citizens without showing any probably cause of suspected criminal activity.

2. Chinese agents can conduct "sneak-and-peek" searches of the houses and businesses of ordinary citizens without prior notice, and without the searches having any chance of being challenged.

3. The Chinese government may record and track all its citizens' business and personal records, including library books read by each person, medical records, counseling and psychiatric files, credit reports and other information.

4. When the Chinese government demands this data from people like librarians or medical record administrators, the government does not have to obtain any warrant whatsoever or even show probably cause in requesting the records. Furthermore, the people forced to provide such records are prevented, under threat of prosecution, from telling anyone.

Sounds bizarre, doesn't it? This is the sort of stuff that only a truly totalitarian government could dream up.

Now, allow me to apologize in advance because I've just deceived you. Everything you've just read isn't the law in China at all: it's United States law, and it was passed under the Bush Administration as part of the Patriot Act.

Original source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/ 01/29/EDGGQ4K29F1.DTL

Details

• Barriers to the Constitutional Right to Privacy Patriot Act -- Forgoing liberty for safety?
• Some sections of the Patriot Act are worse than useless: They are an assault upon the foundation of American freedom.
• -- The government does not have to give notice, obtain a warrant or a subpoena, or show there is probable cause that a crime has been committed.
• Persons turning over personal data to the government (such as librarians, doctors, co-workers or neighbors) are prohibited, under threat of federal criminal prosecution, from telling anyone.
• Were a totalitarian government to be imposed upon us, its inception would look strikingly like these provisions.

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