<!--StartFragment --> The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is based in Arizona, is one of the few physician membership groups to speak out against the law.

Michael Ostrolenk, spokesman for the organization, said the Patriot Act requires a judge to sign a federal agent's request for information, but the agent doesn't have to explain what the information is for and the judge can't really ask, he said. Ostrolenk said that jeopardizes patient-doctor confidentiality, but he doubts many citizens know anything about the possible implications of the law for their own private files.

<!--StartFragment --> Secret database obtained by NBC News tracks ‘suspicious’ domestic groups

Officials with Liberty Coalition say the bill, called the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act," ominously "creates a dangerous new national identity database system and firmly establishes the predicate for a new national ID card system."

<!--StartFragment --> An internationalist assault on the sovereignty of the United States and the privacy of U.S. citizens is currently awaiting action by the full Senate.

An immigration reform bill moving quickly through the U.S. House of Representatives contains language requiring the Social Security Administration, Treasury Department and Department of Justice to study the concept of a machine-readable Social Security card with a photo ID.