Patriot Act Pros And Cons

America has been known throughout history as the land of the free and the home of the brave. The nation is very strong. But, after an attack, its immediate reaction is to increase security by limiting its citizens’ privacy. Citizens must not let the government limit their basic rights of privacy and freedom, even at the increased risk of an attack. The risk of citizens losing their privacy is not a new occurrence. For example, it appeared in 1935 when Congress passed the Social Security Number Act. When Congress passed the act, the Social Security Board had the ability to track the lifetime earnings, contributions, and benefits of each person (Spencer 520). Citizens felt that this gave the government too much power over its people.

In an effort to increase security, the government passed the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was created to give federal investigators more tools for finding and dealing with terrorism (Kandra 37-38). It also broadened the definition of terrorism and made penalties much harsher (38). One of the main parts of the act is called a “Sneak and Peak” search (Feingold 2). This means that an officer who merely suspects a problem can go into private property and conduct a search without the owner’s consent (Kandra 38). By conducting these searches, the government is breaking an amendment that they wrote, and is an invasion of privacy. Once people realized that the tools given to the officials were violating their basic rights to privacy, they got very

It can constantly check into people’s personal emails to see if they possibly contain information that could be useful in the investigation of terrorism (Kandra 38). When the government recovers an email, it has the ability to see the person’s identity, the subject line, and most of the body of the message (38). This means that private exchanges between people can now be read and investigated simply if the government thinks there might be a risk. If there is no risk, the government can still read a private message, which is unnecessary and an intrusion. This policy is also a problem because there is not a clear definition of what is a risk and therefore what can be read. It also gives the ability for the government to monitor certain computers without consent of the owner (Feingold 2). Since the Patriot Act pushes the boundaries of the Fourth Amendment, it would be wise to revise the Act. The Fourth Amendment was written by our Founding Fathers to protect American citizens against a search without cause or warrant (Cole 1). Since the amendment was written so long ago, new laws and acts, such as the Patriot Act, have the ability to void it (Cole