Big Brother Is Watching You

The threat of terrorism creates a fear that allows government agencies to subvert the United States Constitution and common morals out of the threat that they will be unable to combat terrorism without performing these rights violations. After the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11th, 2001, the United States Congress passed the USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act (“NSA Surveillance Programs”). This act essentially gives a blank check of domestic and foreign rights violations to the federal government, specifically the National Security Agency, as long as the violation is done in the name of fighting terrorism. Reports came out numerous times over the next decade, specifically December 2005, May 2006, and March 2012, detailing how the National Security Agency was able to stretch its powers, even beyond this liberal and controversial bill, to surveil its citizens’ private phone conversations with neither warrants nor provable suspicion of a crime taking or about to take place (“NSA Surveillance Programs”). The former of these reports was by the New York Times, which had known for nearly a year about this program but

The USA Patriot Act grants government agencies powers in terrorism investigations that it already uses in non-terrorist crimes. Several law abiding citizens have been approached, questioned, and interrogated without probable cause of any criminal activity, basically for engaging in political speech protected by the constitution (Bailie, 2012). The Act freely eliminates privacy rights for individual Americans, it creates more secrecy for government activities, which make it extremely difficult to know about actions the Government are taking.

     Signed into law by the President on October 26, the Patriot Act is designed to fight terrorism on several fronts. First, it gives the U.S. government authority to hold foreigners suspected of terrorist activity for up to seven days before charging them with a crime. The legislation also gives investigators the legal right to tap any phone a suspected terrorist might use.

Just when you thought it stopped there. The government found a way to make it legal to spy on you whenever they please. According to the PATRIOT Act (2001) it’s “to allow surveillance of all communications used by terrorists”. I guess they forgot that those same communications are used by innocent citizens of the United

To a vast majority of Americans, there exists the belief that the Patriot Act violates their right to privacy, and does little to ensure national security. However, this was not the intention of the Bush Administration, who passed this law. One week after September 11, 2001, the Patriot Act, a law that was meant to strengthen national security, was signed by the Bush Administration to ensure that no terrorist attack would ever harm the lives of more Americans. The Patriot Act gave federal law enforcement agencies what they needed to mount an effective and coordinated plan to stop United States Terrorism. The officials were given the right to carry out surveillance over the internet, phone conversations, and public records. Therefore, this

Also concerned is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This is an organization that is dedicated to raising awareness of civil liberties. The PATRIOT Act, as the name suggests is supposed to protect the citizens of the country from attacks across its borders. It defeats its own purpose in attacking from within the very people it’s supposed to protect. In fact, it does almost the opposite by provoking a fear and paranoia that tends to remind us of such wonderful events like the Spanish inquisition or the Salem Witch Trials.

The United States of America is undoubtedly one of the world’s largest and most powerful nations. However, it has been facing the problem of terrorism for many decades, most notably after the tragic events of September 11th. The Patriot Act was passed shortly after these events in response to the acts of terrorism witnessed by the whole nation. At the time, it seemed rational and logical to allow this bill to pass, due to the extreme anger of American citizens, and the willingness to fight against terrorism. However, certain breaches of privacy came with the introduction of the Patriot Act. We as Americans want to feel protected from the threats of terrorism, however, we are not willing to give up certain privacies and liberties in order for that to happen, even when put to a vote.

Under the Bush Administration, the Protect America Act was passed in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. As a result, in 2007, the National Security Agency designed and operated a surveillance program called ‘Prism’. The programs’ intent is to gather web communications from major United States internet corporations. Under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Prism collects suspicious stored web communication and further employs communication companies such as, Verizon, to turn over all data that included court-approved terms, that indicated conspiracies targeted to compromise our national security. ("NSA PRISM Slides - IC OFF THE RECORD," 2013). Now, you may feel conflicted about their approach to securing our safety, but some are certain that this is undoubtedly a breech in our civil liberties. Lee (2013), states, “Civil liberties groups warned that the PAA 's vague requirements and lack of oversight would give the government a green light to seek indiscriminate access to the private communications of Americans. They predicted that the government would claim that they needed unfettered access to domestic communications to be sure they had gotten all relevant information about suspected terrorists.” Imagine we have a government that justifies spying on its citizens without any legal authorization to do so. The exploit our trust by suggesting that they

After the tragic events of 9/11, the government desperately needed to find a way to contradict terrorism. They approached this conflict by passing the Patriot Act in October 26, 2001, signed by President George W. Bush. This act widened the government’s authority to invade their citizens’ privacy, while reducing checks and balances like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court. Even though the Patriot Act was purposely ratified to benefit our country from dangerous terrorists, some people quarreled and disapproved of it. In my perspective, I would have also disagreed on the Patriot Act.

The act authorizes federal and local government agencies to unethical and unconstitutional investigations, surveillance, and exchange of information on every American citizen. Undoubtedly, this action violates explicitly the Fourth Amendment, as consequence our privacy has been compromised since then. The U.S government can normally spying on its own people and conduct secret investigations, warrantless searches, and indefinite detentions based solely on their beliefs. Every time a US citizen picks or make a phone call forces to pause regarding whether if we have been listening by the National security agency (NSA), which at the same time infringing our freedom of expression guarantee by the First Amendment. Under this unprecedented surveillance program, the government agencies have the ability and capacity to build an enormous range of database with information on every American affiliation and associations with others, even if we are not related or involved in any terrorism activities or connections whatsoever. Moreover, government agencies are forced multiples businesses and organizations like internet and phone providers, universities, airliners, employers, and medical facilities, etc. to turn over their client’s

Sixty percent of all Americans wish to see the Patriot act be reformed. The Patriot Act gives the power to the FBI and Homeland Security to spy on many Americans and collect personal information. It invades privacy, violates civil liberties and the Fourth Amendment, and does not contribute to the fight against terrorism; it takes away freedom of speech and any form of privacy from Americans. In addition to invading the personal lives of many Americans, the patriot act has also been proven to have no effect on stopping potential terrorist attacks in the United States. The Patriot act is a violation of civil rights and an invasion of privacy and needs to be repealed.

The Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001 by President George W. Bush. The act expanded the surveillance capability of both domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. When this law was passed it was under the assumption “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes” (The USA Patriot). The Patriot Act has given the government the power to spy on the average American through monitoring phone records and calls, gaining banking and credit information, and even track a person’s internet activity. This is an unbelievable amount of power intelligence agencies wield all under the umbrella of national security. This power has gone too far, is unjustified, unconstitutional, and infringes on the privacy of the

Americans, clearly, have a privilege to be worried about terrorists. In sympathy toward the Americans ' own wellbeing, the USA Patriot Act was passed with great reason. It ought to stay

Everyone is familiar with the atrocity that occurred in New York on September 11, 2001. The hijacked planes, the towers crashing down, killing hundreds of civilians. Truth is, the attack left everyone in the county and around the world in an extreme state of shock. It was America after all, things like that were not supposed to happen within this country’s borders. Things like that only occurred in places thousands of miles away, places with unstable governments like Syria, and Iran. Fueled by extreme anger, and fear of another attack, many citizens demanded that their government improve its protection over its citizens. In response, the government presented the Patriot Act, a 342 page bill that gave federal officials more power to track and intercept communications, both for law enforcement and foreign intelligence gathering purposes. In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked information to the public that the government was spying and collecting hundreds of information from millions of Americans without the use of any warrants. This information was being shared throughout different departments such as the CIA, FBI and NSA. More than a decade has gone by and terrorism continues to be a threat to our society, Now everyone must ask themselves, to what extent should citizens allow its own government to increase its own power to protect them from terrorism? How many liberties are they willing to give up for for such protection?

Because of this program, which is unconstitutional, it is also extremely easy to land on the terror watch list, and as a result, many people are treated as terrorists because their names show up on this list, and their lives become much more difficult because they are treated differently. However, the main concern is that because of the government’s knowledge about every detail of the lives of Americans, this information can be used against them. Americans also believe that the government has gone far enough to prevent terrorism, and therefore the government is only overstepping its boundaries by monitoring the calls and other activities of Americans. As Ben Franklin states, “when the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Again, Americans are afraid that the government could come after them, and as a result they are forced to change their habits to reduce this