First Act of Tyranny

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After the incident on September 11, 2001, the public, in a state of fear, clamored for more security. The United States Government was all too happy to oblige them. The passage of a series of laws bound together under a single act, known as the Patriot Act, compromised the people’s right to free speech as well as many other rights laid forth by the bill of rights. And through digital media the privacy of those subject to this act would be almost nonexistent (Larry Abramson). This act violates ethical principles by monitoring lives in an unprecedented way (Susan). While measures do need to be taken to secure our borders against terrorist threats it is not acceptable to do so at the cost of long established fundamental rights for the sake of security. While at this time many of the Patriot Acts stricter provisions have already fallen away, there are still many that place restrictions on basic rights. One such provision is the ability of government agents to use a “Sneak and Peek” warrant. That is a warrant that allows authorities to search a home or business without immediately notifying the target of a probe (Larry Abramson). This is unconstitutional because it denies citizens their right to due process. While many might view this as a good thing in the instance of major offenders, the wording is too broad to limit it to those crimes. It could be employed for even minor crimes like evasion of speeding tickets (Kristin Beischel). Also, if the owner of said property is not on the premises at the time of the search it would be easy to plant evidence. This could be used to remove political dissidence without due process. At the time of its passage the Patriot Act had many provisions to monitor public communications. Roving wiretaps... ... middle of paper ... ...n themselves. The privacy invasion, loose wordings, and possible misuse of the provisions laid out by the Patriot Act lend it to be an unethical violation of the fundamental rights of the American Citizenry. And even though many of the worst provisions have ended they have set a precedent. The American people and the American Government have allowed for their right to privacy to be invaded, and it would be far too easy for it to happen again. Works Cited Kristin Beischel, Jessica Metz, Christine Rathbone. The PATRIOT Act. n.d. Document. 6 April 2012. . Larry Abramson, Maria Godoy. The Patriot Act: Key Controversies. n.d. web. 6 April 2012. . Susan. USA Patriot Act. 20 March 2006. web. 6 April 2012. .

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