The Patriot Act is one of today’s most controversial laws. The law’s official name is the USA PATRIOT Act, which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. The law was passed in 2001 after the September Eleventh terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The act greatly increased the power of the government in preventing terrorism, but it also increased the amount of surveillance that the government performs on citizens.
One group that argues this is the American Civil Liberties Union, which strongly disagrees with the Patriot Act. They have stated that investigations into the Patriot Act, “reveal thousands of violations of law,” (ACLU), while this is simply not true. One controversial piece of the Patriot Act are roving wiretaps. These allow government investigators to follow and put surveillance on certain people, rather than certain devices, so that they may save time and effort. According to Nathan Sales, a law professor at George Mason University, “Federal courts agree that Title III’s roving wiretaps authority is constitutional and… provides strong support for constitutionality,” (Sales).
The wiretapping program is used to collect data that is transmitted on a network and allows the government to eavesdrop without a warrant. The use of this program is easy for the NSA to snoop and allows the government to eavesdrop without having to present a warrant. President George W. Bush had addressed this program as a crucial part to the National Security Agency, yet this announcement led to the wild growth of the NSA’s power. The NSA took advantage of the program and used it to spy on the conversations between foreign nationals, U.S. citizens, and international communications. However, curious of the program and questioning President Bush’s speech, a group from the U.S. senate decided to look into the situation.
For instance, the Act allows government interception of personal communication through wiretapping and other means. This enables the government to intercept communication among terrorism suspects. Law enforcers can also intercept personal communications of innocent citizens and non-citizens. However, patriot act supporters argue that electronic surveillance of people suspected to be a threat to national security has been in practice long before the patriot act. Secret hearings, warrants, and wiretapping have been around since 1978, based on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
The opposition suggests that the USA Patriot Act grinds down several elements in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment, the freedom of speech and assembly, is violated because it restricts our speech, albeit, indirectly but it is still restricted. People are losing the right to say what they feel and they have to be careful with their words when discussing politics or the government because they can be prosecuted for saying what they think. The Fourth Amendment, the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, is violated because the Patriot Act does not require a probable cause or a warrant to search through someone's data and personal information and with the Patriot Act, the victim does not need to be informed this search is happening.
The U.S follows a different school of surveillance. Despite the fundamental right to be held “innocent until proven guilty”, it monitors everyone until proven innocent. The status quo could of course damage America’s long known liberties granted by the Constitution. Recent revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden, have confirmed that the government is more likely to cross some constitutional lines in the name of national security. “The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) regulates the government’s acquisition of any electronic surveillance within the country for foreign intelligence use.
The National Security Agency also known as the NSA, it's an intelligent organization of the United States government who monitors foreign countries and collects information of people. The NSA is economically beneficial towards the government of the United States some reasons consist of the prevention of dangerous terrorist attacks, funding's in the government, and the prevention of hackers taking over the system. Though at the same time the NSA should be stopped because they have invaded the privacy of many people without their consents. Currently, the United States has been facing terrorist attack, which has caused many deaths and tragedies not only to the United States but as well towards the world.
The NSA’s surveillance of American citizens caused a debate over whether or not the Fourth Amendment of the constitution was being violated. The NSA, and the Fourth Amendment have been a touchy subject for some American citizens. The NSA, or National Surveillance Agency, is being closely watched by American citizens since a debate has formed as to whether or not the actions of the NSA regarding the surveillance of American
In 2001 after the tragedy of 9/11 President George W. Bush passed the PATRIOT Act. The act is supposed to protect Americans from future terrorist attacks, but what it's actually doing is defying most principles this country was founded upon. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act enables the FBI and the NSA to listen to the phone records of millions of Americans. Not only is the government invading the privacy of millions, but the way it's being done is illegal. The government is invading on the personal lives of people who have never been suspected of being a terrorist.
But when the executive decides to have all the controls and make interaction with the judiciary secret, citizens are left exposed to mistreatment by the executives because nobody will have the power to hold the executive responsible for their actions. An individual or a group of a few citizens cannot force the government to be accountable for their actions without the help of the judiciary. When people are affected individually, it becomes hard for them to unite and form a force that will attract national attention. Even if they report to the media houses, the media will only highlight the challenge, and with time it will be forgotten. Therefore, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has removed the powers of anybody that may be interested in holding them accountable for specific actions because now they have the power to gather intelligence secretly without making a person know they are under
The NSA or the National Security Agency carries out most of the domestic surveillance in the United States. Before the 9/11 attacks the NSA needed approval from a court, but after the attacks, they were given free reign to copy any data that possibly linked to terrorist activities. This led to many arguments over whether this collection of data was unconstitutional or not. The extent of this surveillance shocked many people; many civil rights advocates thought that this surveillance breached United States citizens’ rights. Because of the threat of domestic surveillance in the United States it should be decreased drastically but not entirely stopped.
In the modern era, spying has taken on complications. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence,
Before federal agents take surveillance and seize phone calls or records from a person they must first have a good reason or evidence to do so. This follows the idea of probable cause listed above. Next, before agents can seize anything they must issue a warrant and have it approved. This way they can’t just see anybody’s information that they want to. Here is a quote from a heritage.org writer on the Patriot Act’s constitutionality.
The Act provides the authority for the sharing of information between the intelligence community and law enforcement agencies in an effort to fight terrorism (McAdams III, no date). The Act allows law enforcement to use surveillance to combat terrorism, allows law enforcement to delay warrant notifications to prevent any negative impact to investigations, and under certain circumstances, gives federal agencies the authority to search business records as required to investigate terrorist activity (Department of Justice, no date). It also provides authority for law enforcement agencies to respond to terrorist activity and assist victims of computer trespassing (Department of Justice, no date). The USA Patriot Act updates and improves the FISA in an effort to fight the war on terrorism.
(Bilton, 2013) Surveillance of search engines permits information to be monitored so that if any hazardous search word like how to make bomb is looked it up several times by someone then it can be identified (Anon, 2014). Also, watching over the public assists police to capture crime suspects so that government organizations can protect national security (mass surveillance 위키피디아) To be specific, after terrible incident occurred in September 11, 2001, government of United States enacted the Patriot Act which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. The act was signed by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001 in the name of declaring war with terrorism. (위키피디아) The law grants the right to Federal Bureau of Investigation to profile people who fit certain stereotypes so that potential crime and potential terror can be prevented.
