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Government surveillance in the united states
Government surveillance in the united states
Government surveillance in the united states
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The USA Patriot Act, also known as "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" was a rushed act passed 45 days after the devastating terrorist attack on the twin towers September 11th, 2001. It was composed with the intention of finding and prosecuting international terrorists on American soil, but consequently violated the constitution. In addition, the Patriot act allows surveillance on all emails, internet, and cell phones to try and catch terrorists. Regardless, the act ended up having more power than primarily planned as stated in the CNN debate on the patriot act. America was founded on the principle of individual liberties and the pursuit of happiness in the context
This act increased the federal powers imposed on the citizens in order to help their efforts towards investigating terrorists. These powers included telephone taps, internet taps, voice mail, grand jury information, immigration, money laundering, and crime. While these powers made it easier for the government to track down possible suspects of terrorism, it interfered with the people’s right to privacy. All the provisions under the Patriot Act can be used on the citizens with the approval of a court order. Furthermore, it interfered with the Fourth Amendment.
NSA SPYING PROGRAMMES The United States of America has been ranked the best country with a strong security and defense capability and currently still holds the position. Over the years from independence, the U.S.A continue to increase in strengthen and power to self-defend and ability to intercept major issues around the world. From the World War II and other subsequence wars that followed, the whole world can testify to the superiority of the American Military and their efficiency in the field. This doesn’t just stop there; USA spends almost 20% of their budget on the defense and security of the nation.
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.
The moment that the Twin Towers fell in New York, America became destined for change. In the wake of these attacks, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was quickly passed through congress, and signed by then-president, George W. Bush. The act itself gives the FBI and other government agencies the ability to do and use certain methods, many of which are already used by other law enforcement organizations, to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Since then, this piece of legislation has been the center of much debate and controversy. But, there is ample reason to believe that the Patriot Act is needed and effective.
The Act was designed to preserve the safety of America from any other terrorist attacks and to not allow another ambush to happen within the United States. After the aggression which took place on September 11th, 2001, there was a great fear in the American people. The ratification of the Patriot Act was the government’s approach of trying to prevent any forms of terrorism in our country. Another positive that thing that came with the Patriot Act was the recognition of technology and how technology usage is growing at a rapid pace.
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.
Although the Patriot Act presents virtually many positives, the overall aspect of its existence is detrimental to the citizens of the United States as a whole. Originally being passed in order to protect the country from acts of terrorism, the specificities of the Patriot Act were never underlined which has since led to a much more generalized definition of what legal actions can be pursued on the basis of the Act. Essentially, the Patriot Act should be abolished because it infringes on constitutional rights of citizens, it lacks effectiveness in its goal, and the manner in which it was passed makes you question whether or not it was fully thought through. The Founding Fathers created the Constitution in order to protect the rights of citizens
The Patriot Act provides the United States’ law enforcement agencies broad power in both domestic and international surveillance. This act was designed due to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. President Bush requested this act to the United States Congress which they passed on October 26, 2001. The act was put in place quickly to stop terrorist within the United States border and be able to apprehend and prosecute the terrorist before they are able to act ("Patriot Act."). The Patriot Act was established to prevent terrorist attacks however; the Patriot Act violates the Constitution making the Act illegal.
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.
Subsequent, to the September 11th,2001 terrorist attacks, the Department of Justice proposed The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) to prevent future terroristic attacks. According to Preserving Life and Liberty article, the PATRIOT ACT has played an imperative part in “a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from plans of terrorist dedicated to destroying America and our way of life.” Further, Rosemary Jenks emphases in her article “A Summary of the Anti-Terrorism Law’s Immigration – Related Provision” that the PATRIOT Act focuses mainly on “reinforcing the arsenal of tools available to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and federal prosecutors for identifying and disabling terrorist networks operating both
NSA hides the fact that they are monitoring on US citizens without the warrant as they find some connection between the person monitored and some illegal activity to justify their monitoring. At first, after the 9/11, President George W. Bush started a program of mass monitoring of US communication. He had started it without FISA Court’s knowledge and when the population find out about this Congress had to create and enact the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 and inside was the crucial Section 702 that, by law, validates mass monitoring over the last 7 years. These communication monitoring systems rely on these two statutes: FISA Amendment Act of 2008 (Section 702) and Patriot Act (Section 215).
Many people might say that the privacy of modern day American citizens is being violated, that to similar to the world of 1984. The novel 1984 written by George Orwell is about a totalitarian government who oppresses its people and controls all aspects of their lives. The government is symbolized by Big Brother, people are monitored their entire day for flaws in their thinking towards Big Brother. I believe that privacy of American citizens is being violated and that people should not give up aspects of their personal privacy for greater good of society.
People claim that nowadays they are living in surveillance society because Big Brother in twenty first century is keeping a close eye on people’s daily life. If so what is the meaning of Big Brother? The word Big Brother first introduced in George Orwell’s book named 1984. He said that “Big Brother is Watching You. ”(George Orwell, published year).
Is The Twenty Week Abortion Ban Wrong? For many women who are pregnant, and anticipating the birth of their baby it can be a very exciting but a little scary. You have tests with the o.b. ultra sound’s, and blood work. Many hope for the best, while preparing for the babies birth.
