Adam Smith: “today, I was inadvertently recorded as a ``yes'' vote in favor of final passage of the House-Senate conference report…”

“today, I was inadvertently recorded as a ``yes'' vote in favor of final passage of the House-Senate conference report for S. 735, the Terrorism Prevention Act. After voting, I did not check to see how the machine had recorded my vote. My vote should have been a ``no'' vote for reasons that I will enumerate below. Presently, there are more than 270 Federal laws that address domestic incidents of terrorism including penalties for specific types of murder, kidnapping, and assault committed with political intent. I am not convinced that adding additional laws will do anything to prevent another Oklahoma City tragedy from occurring. The expansion of Federal law enforcement agencies via an additional authorization of $1 billion is fiscally imprudent and only gives a rubber stamp to agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms [BATF] that have come under close scrutiny in recent years. While the multiple wire tapping provisions are not in this legislation, provisions are in place for intercepting wireless data through e-mail and document transmission when done by a wireless modem or through a laptop connected to a cellular phone. Specifically, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act [ECPA] provided these protections which have now been eliminated in section 731 of the conference report. With the phenomenal growth of communication via the Internet and on-line services, I am concerned about the violation of privacy rights of law abiding Americans.”