There are many issue with the Patriot Act. Yes it has prevented many attacks on
us from terrorists, but would you really want to give up so much freedom in order to have
better control of terrorists. Many people would support the act since it does offer more
protection against those attacks. Other however, would totally disagree with the act. The
Patriot Act is actually violating many of our Constitution rights. The act will allow the
government rights to look into your personal life. If the government has enough proof
this act will give the opportunity to look into your personal items such as phone taps,
electronic communications, and even what is in your bank account. As a person would
you really like to have the government go thourgh your personal life and belongings, just
for a little more protection.
The government has set up a boundary that allows them the chance to go into
your personal lives. The main reasons that are noted that would give them a chance to
violate your rights as an American. As noted on web page
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/, that only a certain event will allow a
certain individual the chance to allow such things as wiretap. This will occur if an
individual is committing one of a list of immune rated crimes, if that happens the
communication concerning that offense, and the facilities in which the offender has used
in connection with the offense. The only persons that came allow an interception would
be only designated officials. The interception is only valid for a certain length of time.
In order for a wiretap to be conducted it has to be authorized by a Judge that feels that it
would be beneficial to the country.
The USA Patriot Act, also known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001,
was set up in order to offer a greater feeling of security to Americans, however, I don’t
feel that the Americans really know what the Patriot Act
really stands for and what it will do to our rights as Americans. The bill was passed and
signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. The Patriot Act was a lot like
Less than one week after the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S.A. Patriot Act was introduced to Congress. One month later, the act passed in the Senate with a vote of 98-1. A frightened nation had cried for protection against further attacks, but certainly got more than they had asked for. Russell Feingold, the only Senator to vote down the act, referred to it as, “legislation on the fly, unlike anything [he] had ever seen.” In their haste to protect our great nation, Congress suspended, “normal procedural processes, such as interagency review and committee hearings,” and, “many provisions were not checked for their constitutionality, lack of judicial oversight, and potential for abuse.” Ninety-eight senators were willing to overlook key civil liberty issues contained within the 342 page act. The lone dissenting vote, Wisconsin Senator Russell Feingold, felt that our battle against terrorism would be lost “without firing a shot” if we were to “sacrifice the liberties of the American people.” Feingold duly defended American civil liberties at the risk of his career, truly exemplifying political courage as defined by John F. Kennedy.
Financial records, library records, travel records, video rentals, phone records, medical records, and religious records can all be searched if the government states that the search is done to protect against terrorism. The act was passed after the 9/11 attack. Similarly to the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the Patriot Act is a severe and controversial act passed in the wake of a severe and controversial event. This act is unconstitutional and disregards the personal liberties of the United States’ citizens.
The Patriot Act 2 would give more power to the government, eliminating and weakening many of the checks and balances that remained on government surveillance, wiretapping, detention and criminal prosecution even after passage of the USA Patriot Act. The Patriot Bill was drafted by the Bush Administration that would expand law enforcement and intelligence gathering authorities, reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over surveillance, authorities secret arrests, create DNA database based on unchecked executive “suspicion,” create new death penalties, and even seek to take American citizenship away from persons who belong to or support disfavored political groups. A few renditions and provisions of the bill is explained in the next few paragraphs. These are only a few of the examples of the powers the new bill will give the government. (http://www.cdt.org/security/usapatriot/030210cole.pdf)
America was built so that people could have the freedoms that they needed and that they did not have to be scrutinized by the government as stated by our late president Abraham Lincoln, "...Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." If our presidents in the past have fought for these rights why should one act take away all that they have fought for? The Patriot Act should be dismantled due to the fact that the rights of the people are being violated.
The U.S.A Patriot Act, which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, was an act of congress that was signed by President George W. Bush in October of 2001. The act was in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. The act is meant to help government agencies identify and prevent possible terrorist attacks and sponsorship of terrorist groups (Justice, 2015). The law has many pros, but as well countless cons. Some of the pros of the Patriot Act are it assist’s law enforcement in their investigations of terrorist activity, it speeds up investigations on terrorist activity, and it increases security measures. The cons of the act are the amount of authority
Since the terrorist attacks at Sept. 11, 2001, the surveillance issue often has turned away the table in the debate of individual privacy or counterterrorism. By passing the Patriot Act, Congress gave President Bush an immense law enforcement authority to boost U.S's counterterrorism, and the President used his enlarged powers to forward specific programs in order to reduce the threat of terrorism and defend the country’s safety.
“Many opponents have come to see the patriot act as a violation of the fourth amendment to the U. S constitution.” (Belanger, Newton 2). The side effect of the patriot act is that it weakens many rights. This act weakens the fourth amendment which is our privacy protection. The fourth amendment allows citizens to be protected from unreasonable searches without a warrant. The police search suspects mainly because of their race or ethnic group.
What is the Patriot Act? The USA PATRIOT act was signed into law quickly without much debate back in 2001 right after the September 11th attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. The Patriot Act touches almost everything from more funding for businesses that are affected by terrorist attacks all the way to funding affected families of terrorist attacks. The main reason the Patriot act was put in place was to prevent future terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and overseas attacks on Americans. With the act the government would try to stop the attacks before they take place to prevent American deaths. The Patriot Act was put in place to protect America, and at the time many agreed with the Act and went along with it. That was at first. That was when many Americans felt threatened for their safety. Now, many have had time to reflect back on the Patriot Act and feel differently (Ball 2004 p. 78-84).
These types of montitoring have a good side and a bad side. The Patriot Act is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2001 after 9/11. Its backronym, U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T., which stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Americans fear that another attack is imminent. To ease these fears, lawmakers created the USA Patriot Act which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. This lengthy bill allows the justice department a great deal of power in criminal cases especially in those dealing with terrorism. While, according to lawmakers, the Patriot Act is aimed at ending terrorism, it is arguable that the Patriot Act is aimed at beginning a Big Brother-type society. For the government of the United States to enforce a law that encourages the obstruction of the 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments and other civil liberties is highly hypocritical and quite un-American.
Since September 11, 2001 many people can say that America has changed. Many people question if America has changed for the better or has it just gotten worse. Since the day those four planes crashed around the United States people’s lives have been changed. Many may not realize how their lives have changed, but with new laws passed life is different within America. The United States Patriot Act is one of the laws passed after 9/11: singed into order on October 26, 2001 just 45 days after the attack. The United States Patriot Act was put in place in order to protect Americans, yet has been affecting American’s civil liberties and caused controversy all over the United States.
While this paper will later explain the many and often repeated criticisms that the Patriot Act entails, it is very important to outline what the Patriot Act allows and what it brought into law. For starters, the original bill was a lengthy 320 pages and changed 15 federal laws so there was a massive overhaul in how security would function in what many considered to be a new nation. Essentially, the Patriot Act does an assortment of things. Though it may come off as paranoid to the people that say the government is watching you, this is true. The
After the horrific incident on September 9, 2001, the Patriot Act was passed to help “reduce” terrorist attacks, but they have only restricted us from our rights and feeling free. Regardless of whether we have anything to hide, we deserve to feel comfortable in our own homes. They can even hack into our TVs and cameras! This is unacceptable! We have been dealing with the violation of our privacy due the Patriot Act, but this act led to the abuse of governments’ power, violation of our natural rights, and the government has been going through our texts, internet history, social media, which is breaching into the laws of the constitution.
The Patriot act positives out weigh the negatives. The positives are law enforcement being able to use surveillance that investigators used to investigate organized crime and drug traffickers. The Federal Bureau of Investigations can now use wiretaps to investigate possible terrorist when before they were only allowed to use them to investigate organized crime and drug traffickers. The Patriot Act allowed enforcement or investigating agencies to collect information when looking into terrorism-related crimes, including: chemical-weapons offenses, the use of weapons of mass destruction, killing Americans abroad, and terrorism financing. The Act allowed the FBI to seek court authorization to use the same actions in national security investigations to track terrorists such as roving wiretaps. Federal courts in constricted circumstances have allowed law enforcement agencies to delay for a limited time when the person’s judicially approved search warrant is...
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” In America’s society today, some are willing to sacrifice their civil liberties in order to gain protection and security over some potential threat. Especially after the events of September 11th and several attempted bombings in U.S. cities. This sacrifice of individual freedoms such as the freedom of speech, expression, the right to information, to new technologies, and so forth, for additional protection is more of a loss than a gain. Citizens of the United States deserve equal liberty and safety overall, as someone should not have to give up one value in order to gain another. This concept of individual right goes beyond the simple idea of “individual comfort.” Personal liberties cannot be surrendered and are not to be compromised since these liberties are intangible. Individuals should not have their personal liberties exchanged for national security because individuals are guaranteed protection to these rights.