A Guide to the Patriot Act, Part 2  The law, lawyers, and the
court. Sept. 9 2003 6:30 PM  A Guide to the Patriot Act, Part 2
Should you be scared of the Patriot Act?  This is the second of
a 4-part series about what's really in the USA Patriot Act.
(Read Part 1 here.)  Section 218 aka "FISA: It's everywhere you
don't want to be"  Section 218 amends the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, a "bargain" struck in 1978 wherein the usual
requirements for a police search—probable cause to believe a
criminal act had occurred and a warrant—would be unnecessary in
a teeny, tiny number of cases. That teeny, tiny number of cases
just expanded dramatically.   What it does: Secret searches can
now be authorized by a secret court without public knowledge or
Department of Justice accountability, so long as the government
can allege there is any foreign intelligence basis for the
search.  The law before and how it changed: In 1978 the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act  created an exception to the
Fourth Amendment's "