We Must Regain Our Lost Civil Liberties

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With our nation’s tragedy of September 11, 2001, arose a deeply shaken America, shocked by the extent of the cruelty. An act of terrorism of that magnitude had never been seen before in our country. Patriots quickly came together, supporting the president to pass legislation, known as the USA Patriot Act, to tackle internal and external threats to this nation. The debate ensued, focused on which types of surveillance technology should or shouldn't be allowed for arresting terrorists. However, the question remains as to how these devices are going to be used, and how personally are those who use them held accountable. The purpose of this paper is to confirm that the proposed monitoring and archiving of users’ information on social networking sites would represent yet another erosion of our civil liberties for only a minor gain to our national security.

The USA Patriot Act or simply the Patriot Act sanctions the use of wiretaps, additional surveillance of technology, such as voice mail and e-mail, trap and trace devices, and demands for educational and business records. The Department of Justice justifies that such actions in criminal investigations, have been used for years. However, this action comes under intense scrutiny by critics such as the ACLU who maintain that the secrecy surrounding the use of such tools as well as lower criteria for attaining the authority to use them “represents a broad expansion of power without building in a necessary privacy protection” (The USA PATRIOT Act: Myth vs. Reality, n.d.).

The Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001, 45 days after the terrorist attacks on September 11th. The debate over what the Patriot Act actually allows law enforcement officia...

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1669540,00.html

National Security. (n.d.). American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved from

http://www.aclu.org/National-Security

Presidential Powers, NSA Spying, and the War on Terrorism: Americans’ Attitudes on

Recent Events – Overview. (2006). American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved from

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/24262res20060224.html

The New York Times (2009, December 12). Twitter Tapping. [Editorial]. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/opinion/13sun2.html

The USA Patriot Act. (2005). Retrieved from

http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot

The USA Patriot Act: Myth vs. Reality. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/subs/add_myths.htm

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