My daughter just found this doing a web search for her paper. It seems to pretty well summarize the issues related to the USA Act as it was passed. Since I haven't seen this summary elsewhere, I thought folks might find it germane to the conversation. It comes from the Corporate Watch website, but seems to be a summary taken from either the ACLU or National Lawyers Guild (not clear).

Here it is:

According to the ACLU, the most troubling provisions in both the Senate and the modified House anti-terrorism legislation now include:

Permits Information Sharing: Allows information obtained during criminal investigations to be distributed to the CIA, NSA, INS, Secret Service and military, without judicial review, and with no limits as to how these agencies can use the information once they have it.

Authorizes "Sneak and Peek Searches": Authorizes expanded use of covert searches for any criminal investigation, thus allowing the government to enter your home, office or other private place and conduct a search, take photographs, and download your computer files without notifying you until later.

Allows Forum Shopping: Law enforcement can apply for warrants in any court in any jurisdiction where it is conducting an investigation for a search anywhere in the country. This would make it very difficult for individuals subjected to searches to challenge the warrant.

Creates New Crime of Domestic Terrorism: Creates an entirely new type of crime, which is unnecessary for the prosecution of the "War on Terrorism." By expanding the definition of terrorism in such a way, the bill could potentially allow the government to levy heavy penalties for relatively minor offenses, including political protests.

Allows the CIA to Spy on Americans: Gives the Director of Central Intelligence the power to manage the gathering of intelligence in America and mandate the disclosure of information obtained by the FBI about terrorism in general -- even if it is about law-abiding American citizens -- to the CIA.

Imposes Indefinite Detention: Permits authorities to indefinitely detain non-citizens, without meaningful judicial review.

Reduces Privacy in Student Records: Allows law enforcement to access, use and disseminate highly personal information about American and foreign students.

Expands Wiretap Authority: Minimizes judicial supervision of law enforcement wiretap authority in several ways, including: permitting law enforcement to obtain the equivalent of "blank" warrants in the physical world; authorizing intelligence wiretaps that need not specify the phone to be tapped or require that only the target's conversations be eavesdropped upon; and allowing the FBI to use its "intelligence" authority to circumvent the judicial review of the probable cause requirement of the Fourth Amendment.