Patriot Act Pros And Cons

The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. Its title is a ten-letter acronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. After the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon the United States has developed mitigation controls to decrease the risk of these reoccurring. One of these mitigation controls is the USA Patriot Act. The Patriot Act’s purpose is to combat future acts of terrorism against the United States. Though its intentions are to prevent destruction of the United States; the access of personal information is causing an out roar throughout the country with questions of moral and ethical rights. When the Patriot Act was first signed into law, there was a surprising lack of objections regarding the effect the radical provisions would have on our society. The short time period in which the bill was written,

Knowing these things has brought up the question on whether the Act is morally and/or ethically right or wrong. Though the intent of the Patriot Act is to protect the US from terrorist attacks; like anything else, if power is put into the wrong hands it becomes unethical. Our country needs protection against terrorism, but there should be an alternative Act in place. The Patriot Act is unethical because it compromises people’s communication privacy by monitoring their personal lives in an unprecedented way. The Act strips U.S. citizens of some of their privacies and still does not guarantee them enhanced security. There is no public evidence available that shows that the Act’s new surveillance methods will stop an attack. It also eliminates government accountability because it decreases checks and