Technology has affected the field of justice studies in many ways. After the events of September 11th 2001, technology has had an even greater impact on the field of justice studies. Rapidly advancing technology has made surveillance cheaper and easier to conceal. Tools such as wiretapping, surveillance for e-mails, and other forms of surveillance tools that were before a violation of peoples' right to privacy, are now allowed to be used without probable cause. These tools now allow the FBI to find terrorists before they commit their act of violence. These surveillance tools that are now allowed to be used by the FBI were passed under the USA Patriot Act. Given that the USA Patriot Act now allows the FBI to look through what many people may consider private, many questions may arise. For instance, what does the FBI have rights to monitor? Who does it affect? What are the ethical concerns? And why is this favorable for the United States? First, many people may be concerned with what the FBI has rights to monitor. The FBI has rights to monitor many things that may surprise many people. On October 26, 2001, President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act (USAPA) into law. The USA Patriot Act allows the FBI to monitor e-mail, medical records, and library accounts. The FBI may now access what may be to most people, personal information. They can legally wiretap phones, break into homes and offices, and access financial records without probable cause. This allows them to waste no time in finding terrorists. There is no doubt that this Act creates strict laws for foreigners. According to Stefanie Olsen, a staff writer for CNET, during President Bush's speech on the USA Patriot Act to the nation's mayors on how the law woul... ... middle of paper ... ...ated with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to round up thousands of aliens suspected of terrorism..." Whether for better or for worse, the USA Patriot Act may affect everyone's lives. Over the years, technology has had a great impact on the world. However, while people now use this technology such as the Internet, they may be being watched over. Technology has definitely had a great impact on the justice studies field. It now allows government officials to use these tools to watch over the American people, and while doing so, they also protect us. It allows the government officials to do their job at serving and keeping the American people safe. When people start to think of how the USA Patriot Act violates their right to privacy, they should stop to think how this Act is keeping them safe.
The emergence of new and innovative technology can be used in many deceitful or secretive ways by law enforcement agencies to convict a suspect. The Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights has had a large influence in regulating the ways that law enforcement agencies may use technology against the everyday citizen. Technology can be used to obtain information on an individual without the individual being aware of the invasion of their privacy: e-mail accounts can be hacked, IP addresses can be traced, phones can be tapped and tracked, cars can be bugged.
With this over the years the FBI has been given a large amount of authority to serve and protect. Doing so the FBI has been broken into seven areas to follow the U.S. Constitution. Background Investigations, Civil Rights, Domestic Terrorism, National Foreign Intelligence, Organized Crime/Drug Cases, Violent Crimes, and White Collar Crimes. Given this a large amount of authority even today the FBI sees to it that they base all their actions from the U.S. Constitution.
After the horrendous terrorist attack on the New York Trade Center a new Bill was passed by congress shortly after September 11, 2004. This bill is known as The Domestic Security Enhancement Act also called Patriot Act 2. This bill was designed as a follow-up to the USA Patriot Act to work in increasing government surveillance, detention and other law enforcement powers while reducing basic checks and balances on such powers. By the beginning of the year 2003 a draft of the legislation was available. Amongst the most severe problems the bill diminishes personal privacy by removing checks on government power, diminishes public accountability by increasing government secrecy, and diminishes corporate accountability under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Also the bill undermines fundamental constitutional rights of Americans under overboard definitions of “terrorism” and “terrorist organization” or under a terrorism pretext. Furthermore, unfairly targets immigrants under the pretext of fighting terrorism. (http://www.aclu.org/Safeand Free/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=11835&c=206)
Communication surveillance has been a controversial issue in the US since the 1920's, when the Supreme Court deemed unwarranted wiretaps legitimate in the case of Olmstead v United States. Since telephone wires ran over public grounds, and the property of Olmstead was not physically violated, the wiretap was upheld as lawful. However, the Supreme Court overturned this ruling in 1967 in the landmark case of Katz v United States. On the basis of the fourth amendment, the court established that individuals have the right to privacy of communication, and that wiretapping is unconstitutional unless it is authorized by a search warrant. [Bowyer, 142-143] Since then, the right to communication privacy has become accepted as an integral facet of the American deontological code of ethics. The FBI has made an at least perfunctory effort to respect the public's demand for Internet privacy with its new Internet surveillance system, Carnivore. However, the current implementation of Carnivore unnecessarily jeopardizes the privacy of innocent individuals.
Edward Snowden is America’s most recent controversial figure. People can’t decide if he is their hero or traitor. Nevertheless, his leaks on the U.S. government surveillance program, PRISM, demand an explanation. Many American citizens have been enraged by the thought of the government tracing their telecommunication systems. According to factbrowser.com 54% of internet users would rather have more online privacy, even at the risk of security (Facts Tagged with Privacy). They say it is an infringement on their privacy rights of the constitution. However, some of them don’t mind; they believe it will help thwart the acts of terrorists. Both sides make a good point, but the inevitable future is one where the government is adapting as technology is changing. In order for us to continue living in the new digital decade, we must accept the government’s ability to surveil us.
USA patriot Act, also known as the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism” Act was passed October 26, 2001, after the September 11 attacks on the world trade center so that intelligence agencies can find terrorist in the united states and prosecute them. The Patriot Act allows the intelligence agencies to tap into phones, emails and banking history without the consent of a judge. The federal government have unlimited authority to spy on American citizens.
Following the terrorist attacks, Congress created the Patriot Act. The act allowed law enforcement's around the country greater ability to track terrorism or possible terrorists. It expanded the governments ability to investigate and punish terrorists. This act was accepted quickly by the House of Representatives, and was passed almost unanimously in the Senate. President George W. Bush signed this act into being on October 6th, 2001. This act allows the police to have surveillance over any form of communication that could be used by a terrorist. Things that were private privileges, such as emails, the internet, and, ...
Whether the U.S. government should strongly keep monitoring U.S. citizens or not still is a long and fierce dispute. Recently, the debate became more brutal when technology, an indispensable tool for modern live, has been used by the law enforcement and national security officials to spy into American people’s domestic.
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.
The Patriot Act has been under scrutiny and opposition since its creation following 9/11. When 9/11 struck it was clear that Americas intelligence was lacking in some specific way, but it was translated that America needed greater allowance for gathering information. The Patriot Act was signed on October 26, 2001, very close to 9/11. It can be concluded that the Patriot Act was signed with such extreme ability’s applied, because of how close it was signed after 9/11. The Act Greatly expands the liberty’s if law enforcement in their efforts to gather information, which in turn imposes on the privacy of the American people. The FBI has the ability to study any citizen suspected of terrorism, and has access to all their information. Wire Taps and other invasive action are allowed and granted by the Patriot Act. Was the Patriot Act signed to quickly? Are its measures to extreme? When is the line drawn on how much power the government can have? Is the Patriot Act effective enough that it is necessary? Should we as Americans willing to trade freedom for safety? Can the Patriot Act effectively stop or hinder terrorist attacks; has its stopped enough attacks to be validated? Another question is does America want a government that has that much power, how much are we as Americans willing to sacrifice, and how much more liberty’s is the government going take. If the government can pass the patriot act, what other legislation can they pass? In reality it all comes down to the American people, we are democracy but do we have the power in are hands? When finding all these questions one asks do we need an act that is in fact this controversial? Is the Patriot Act a necessary evil? To find this answer we have to answer all the questio...
The U.S. Patriot Act was set in place to better serve our country against terrorism. The U.S. Patriot Act is an Acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Acts (Lithwick). This act is to punish terrorist actions and improve law enforcement not only in the United States but also around the world. The United States Patriot Act consists of over 1,000 sections that describe the act in great detail. The sections include, but are not limited to, the power extended to the government by The U.S. Patriot Act to deport and incarcerate non citizens. With the U.S. Patriot Act a person’s phone line can be tapped, records of any and all purchases checked, and even library records searched. This Act also has sections to help money laundering, expand our country’s border protection, strengthening the extent of criminal laws and provide for people suffering from any type of terrorism acts (Huffman).
It may be that they have the power to investigate terrorism; the Congress should have the ability to ensure that the FBI does not overreach. The Patriot Act even gave the FBI the power to extract unlimited business records like sensitive files like medical, library and bookstore records, with a secret court order issued with no factual showing of need. The only possible way for all this to get better would be by restricting the FBI from some of their power and only letting them obtain files about people suspected of being terrorist. They should not get the entire database of information of innocent people. It goes back to the government exceeding his limits and not staying within his power because the Patriot Act was passed to reduce terrorist attacks, not to spy on innocent people and end up arresting them for no apparent reason because they are innocent. The FBI’s investigation under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a statue that was expanded by the Patriot Act, was released to the public with almost no information. The FBI should do more public reporting on techniques so the public will become informed on how much information is obtained about citizens. The Patriot Act contains domestic terrorism, so broad that someone who commits a
After the devastating attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, this country scrambled to take action to provide future protection. New techniques had to be developed to protect the nation from the menace of terrorism. Along with the new techniques came the decision to enact laws that some believed crossed the threshold of violating civil liberties this county and those living in it were guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. “On October 26, 2001, the Public Law 107-56, Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, also known as the USA Patriot Act, was signed into effect” (Stern, 2004, p. 1112). While speaking to Congress, President George Bush stated, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorist” (Stern, 2004, p. 1114). Congress knew by signing the bill, they were expecting each American to give up a part of his or her guaranteed rights. Rights such as the right to privacy, free speech and the right to know when a citizen is being investigated by the government were just among a few. The act has been described as a “law enforcement wish list” (Stravelli, 2003, p. 1). The wish list allows law enforcement to “obtain people’s personal information and conduct surveillance, and in some cases impose secrecy on their law enforcement activities” (Update: USA Patriot Act, 2007, p. 1).
In the wake of September 11, many things happened very quickly. Along with the beginning of a '"'war'"' against terrorism, an act was passed to help prevent future terrorism in the USA. The name of this is the USA Patriot Act. The act legalizes many surveillance techniques that were once prohibited. The act has been passed without debate, and the new privileges given to our government have not been thoroughly examined. The law enforcers of our country are now capable of monitoring the citizens in ways most people are not aware of. Some of the surveillance laws are self-terminating after four years, but many of the more important laws are permanent. What will these new surveillance laws be used for after the war on terrorism is over? Lee Tien, the Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney, suggests that the new rights can be used to put America into a '"'police state'"'. There is a need for checks and balances in the USA Patriot Act to protect the American citizens.
As citizens of America we are all entitled to our rights of privacy. When something threatens this guaranteed privacy we tend to take extra precautions to prohibit prolonged violation. As the advancing world of technology continues to grow and expand, so do the amount of cases involving privacy invasion. Technology drives these privacy-invading crimes; however, crime also drives technology, creating a vicious cycle. Without technology an invader could not enter that of a stranger’s life. Conversely, without technology that same criminal would evade the law enforcers. So does technology protect citizens’ privacy, or does it expose one’s entire life? In regards to this question, one must consider: before the rise of the world of technology, privacy invasion was not a common issue. With this fact in mind it is not difficult to determine where the problem lies: technology threatens privacy.