The impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on records management: the impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on a particular records manager or records management program depends largely on the industry in which it operates.

AuthorMartins, Cristine S.
PositionBusiness Matters

With 16 of its provisions, including several key ones, set to expire at the end of the year, the USA PATRIOT Act--enacted in 2001 in reaction to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history--is the subject of much media attention and heated discussion. The controversy, however, has done little to explain the legislation's impact on records and information management (RIM), dispel the myths surrounding what certain provisions of the act actually do, or shed light on how information professionals can comply with its provisions in their working environments.

While the PATRIOT Act does not necessarily have a direct impact on RIM in all industries, it has a profound impact in certain key sectors. Communications providers--including many cable, phone, and Internet providers--as well as banking and financial institutions, libraries, and even precious metals, gems, and jewelry dealers have all had their business recordkeeping affected to some degree by this law.

Key Provisions

Among the provisions of the act that have had an impact on RIM in various sectors of the U.S. economy are the following:

* Section 204--allows stored voice mail communications to be obtained by a search warrant rather than by having to meet the more stringent wiretap requirements. However, messages on an answering machine tape are not accessible through this provision.

* Section 210--expands the type of information that an electronic communications provider must disclose. This could include records of session times and duration, temporarily assigned network addresses, and means of payment, and it is not limited to investigations of suspected terrorist activity.

* Section 211--makes cable companies that provide telephone or Internet services subject to existing laws that cover telecommunications providers and Internet service providers (ISPs). This directly affects records managers who work for cable providers, where the impact of the PATRIOT Act has been strongly felt.

* Section 215--allows the government to seek a court order to obtain personal records such as library, financial, phone, travel, and medical records. This is done by amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and is based on a much lower probable-cause standard than that for a regular warrant. Section 215 will expire at the end of 2005 unless renewed by Congress and is one of the most highly publicized in the media.

* Section 216--applies telephone monitoring laws to Internet traffic, including e-mail, Web page-, and Internet protocol addresses. This applies to computers just about everywhere, including public libraries, which has made this a major talking point in the media and a hotly contested issue.

* Section 314--provides for information sharing among financial institutions and between the government and financial institutions. Part of the tougher anti-money laundering rules, this provision allows a broader spectrum of communication than ever before.

* Section 319(b)--amends Section 5318 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code to include a "120-hour rule." This provision requires that a financial institution must produce records relating to "any account opened, maintained, administered, or managed in the United States" upon request from an appropriate federal banking agency. This section also provides instruction on maintaining foreign bank records.

* Section 326--requires that financial institutions verify a person's identity when that person seeks to open an account and to maintain records of the information used in such identification, amending Section 5318 of Title 31, U.S. Code.

* Section 505--allows the government to seek personal records with no judicial approval through the use of an administrative subpoena. This provision does not expire at the end of 2005 and has been used many times since 2001. It was, however, struck down as unconstitutional by a New York Federal District Court in September 2004. The case is currently awaiting appeal.

Key Provisions as They Relate to Specific Sectors

Sections 215 and 216--Libraries

The opposition to Sections 215 and 216 is quite vocal. The American Library Association (ALA) has come out strongly against government...

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