Bill Would Boost Md. Wiretaps

Maryland lawmakers are preparing to pass anti-terrorism legislation today that would dramatically expand the ability of police to tap phones and eavesdrop on the e-mail and Internet activity of suspected criminals--part of a deluge of terror-busting measures under consideration in nearly every state.

The Maryland bill, like those in dozens of other states, has inspired a heated clash between civil libertarians and those who believe that some rights must be compromised to prevent another attack on U.S. soil.

Each time that conflict surfaced last week, as Maryland delegates met in committee to craft the legislation, concerns about security ultimately outweighed fears about the potential for police abuse.

“I realize that this bill basically says you can tap someone’s phone for jaywalking, and normally I would say, ‘No way,’ ” said Del. Dana Lee Dembrow (D-Montgomery). “But after what happened on Sept. 11 . . . .”

Although some of the 1,200 anti-terrorism measures being contemplated by state legislatures this year have involved such benign security methods as requiring fencing around reservoirs, others will substantially broaden the scope of police rights to probe into private lives.

“State legislatures are in the process of recalibrating the appropriate balance between liberty and security in the post-Sept. 11th world,” said Michael Mello, a Vermont Law School professor who recently testified on an anti-terrorism bill before the state Legislature.

Most of what is occurring, Mello said, involves a localized repackaging of federal anti-terrorism laws, passed by Congress in October as the USA Patriot Act.

Like the Patriot Act, proposals in Maryland permit law enforcement officials to get court orders to retrieve records of e-mails and other electronic communications, not just telephone records.

Maryland’s proposal would expand the ability of police to tap phones by allowing investigators to plant a listening device indefinitely, not just for 30 days. It would, for the first time, permit use of a “roving wiretap” to record a suspect’s conversations on multiple phones with a single warrant.

The bill would tighten airport security and widen the purview of state transit police to cover more areas around harbors and airports. It would define terrorism as a specific crime for the first time and attach to it severe penalties.