A little noticed section in the USA FREEDOM Act deals with "Safety of Maritime Navigation and Nuclear Terrorism Conventions Implementation." As the title suggests, this section makes changes in laws regarding the US Government's policing of the seas as well as the government's efforts to prevent "nuclear terrorism."
One provision of the bill dealing with maritime navigation that may be of particular interest to Campaign for Liberty members is that provision from section 801 of the bill:
(g)(1) CIVIL FORFEITURE.—Any real or personal property used or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of a violation of this section, the gross proceeds of such violation, and any real or personal property traceable to such property or proceeds, shall be subject to forfeiture.
“(2) Applicable procedures.—Seizures and forfeitures under this section shall be governed by the provisions of chapter 46 of title 18, United States Code, relating to civil forfeitures, except that such duties as are imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury under the customs laws described in section 981(d) shall be performed by such officers, agents, and other persons as may be designated for that purpose by the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, or the Secretary of Defense."
So if you did not have enough reason to oppose USA FREEDOM already, the fact that it extends civil asset theft ought to make this bill completely unacceptable to anyone who values liberty and constitutional government.
Help Campaign for Liberty defeat all attempts to extend warrantless wiretapping, whether with a clean reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act or with the phony "reforms" of the USA FREEDOM Act by supporting our Stop the Surveillance State Banner Bomb.
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PDFTags: civil asset forfeiture, USA Freedom