“The Patriot Act broadly undermines the rights of all Americans. It reduces judicial oversight of a host of investigative measures, including wiretaps, expands the government 's ability to track individuals ' Internet use and gives federal officials expansive new powers that are in no way limited to investigating terrorist crimes.( thenation) It authorizes an end run around the Fourth Amendment by allowing the government to conduct wiretaps and searches in criminal investigations, without probable cause of a crime, as long as the government claims that it also seeks to gather foreign intelligence--an authority that is particularly questionable in light of recent disclosures from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the FBI has
The foundations of the Act were created long before 9/11. However, the 9/11 tragedies were the trigger point that led to the Act’s implementation. The patriot act is frequently seen as un-American because it violates basic freedoms and human rights. For instance, the Act violates privacy.
After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the United States government reacted quickly and firmly with the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism). The purpose of this act was to prevent another terror attack of the same magnitude as the 9/11 attack, but some people believe this act encroaches too heavily on civil rights. The USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act) threatens liberty more than it hinders terrorism, goes against the Constitution, and needs to be modified so it doesn’t breach the Constitution. The USA PATRIOT Act interferes with the liberties of companies and people in the United States while doing more to impact lawful Americans than terrorists.
According the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the most important and unconstitutional parts is in Section 215 of the act. It expanded ability for the government to gain access to third party records such as internet service providers and cell phone service providers. One of the most significant provisions of the Patriot Act makes it far easier for the authorities to gain access to records of citizens ' activities being held by a third party. This also would include forcing doctors, lawyers, anyone at all that has electronic communications records to turn such records over to the FBI when requested. Another concern raised by the ACLU is the provision’s violation of the 4th Amendment which allows investigates to conduct such searches without showing probable cause.
The Patriot Act provides the United States’ law enforcement agencies broad power in both domestic and international surveillance. This act was designed due to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. President Bush requested this act to the United States Congress which they passed on October 26, 2001. The act was put in place quickly to stop terrorist within the United States border and be able to apprehend and prosecute the terrorist before they are able to act ("Patriot Act."). The Patriot Act was established to prevent terrorist attacks however; the Patriot Act violates the Constitution making the Act illegal.
Not only does the act jeapordize these rights of citizens, but also fringes upon individual rights to privacy. At first, the government’s primary focus for the use of the act was only to protect the country from terrorists on American soil as well as future acts of terrorism that may ensue, but now, the government has used their unruly power to convict criminals who have virtually no relation to terrorism whatsoever which is clear example of governmental abuse of power. Another aspect of the Patriot Act which brings forth public fear is the fact that any individual can be kept an eye on and surveillanced. In order to obtain personal information of individuals, National Security Letters (NSL’s) are issued to federal agents without a judge’s approval. To make things worse, information acquired through NSL’s on completely innocent individuals can be kept and stored as opposed to being thrown out--a clear violation of right to privacy.
One group that argues this is the American Civil Liberties Union, which strongly disagrees with the Patriot Act. They have stated that investigations into the Patriot Act, “reveal thousands of violations of law,” (ACLU), while this is simply not true. One controversial piece of the Patriot Act are roving wiretaps. These allow government investigators to follow and put surveillance on certain people, rather than certain devices, so that they may save time and effort. According to Nathan Sales, a law professor at George Mason University, “Federal courts agree that Title III’s roving wiretaps authority is constitutional and… provides strong support for constitutionality,” (Sales).
The fourth amendment makes it hard for Law enforcement conducting investigations to get information that could be very useful. The apple company gets thousands and thousands of information requests that they are legally not allowed to share,and a large portion of the requests are from people whose devices have been lost or stolen. Additionally, lots of times Apple says no to the information requests, and even once Apple is approved to give personal material they still share a minimal amount of data, however Apple does collect a minimal amount of data. The patriot act allows certain exceptions having to do with terrorists to be made when finding information, and they are very helpful to law enforcement, but only in terroristic situations. Furthermore the amount of information that the Patriot act allows investigators to get for terror crimes just shows how much information we could be getting about horrific criminals that are not yet in jail.
I am in favor of the patriot ACT. I know many people think, it is kind of violation of the privacy, but the patriot ACT make the U.S. a better place to live. There are countries, which try to do some damage to the U.S., and they will do anything to accomplish it. The patriot ACT made it easier for the law enforcement whenever they needed to arrest someone, whether is a drug dealer, a terror organization or someone who tries to make some damages through technology. These acts can have huge impact on the people and the society, law enforcement should act faster than the enemies in order to get them before they get what they want.
“ No single provision of the Patriot Act has ever been found unconstitutional. This is a testament to the act’s limited applicability, procedural safeguards, and extensive oversight
4. Abuse of the Patriot Act— Several provisions of the Patriot Act were set to expire at the end of 2005 and, despite opposition from across the political spectrum and more than 400 community and state resolutions expressing concern about the Patriot Act, Congress reauthorized the law without reforming its most flawed provisions to bring these extraordinary powers back in line with the Constitution. Since then, the Justice Department 's Inspector General found that the FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of national security letters, a majority against U.S. persons, and many without any connection to terrorism at
The whole point of the Fourth Amendment is not to completely stop the police, because the amendment can be waived if an officer has a warrant, or a person’s consent. The Fourth Amendment states that generally a search or seizure is illegal unless there is a warrant, or special circumstances. Technically stating that a citizen is protected by the Fourth Amendment, until a government employee gets a warrant, and then they can invade a citizen’s privacy. Also people state that the FISA Court’s warrants are constitutional, but the NSA’s surveillance is unconstitutional. Even though people do not like the NSA’s surveillance, the NSA is legal because the FISA Court that the people did not mind makes it legal.
It was two-thousand three when the test was established. An evolution of the patriot act, the test was created to keep people safe in the face of terrorists and murderers, communists and anarchists. The rules were simple, citizens would obey their government for three hundred sixty four twenty-four hour periods, and surveillance cameras with microphones were installed in homes and cars to monitor people for the first part of the test. Then on the three hundred sixty fifth day it was required pass the test- a four hour examination that was designed to identify those who would hard their countrymen- and most importantly, their government. If a person failed the examination, in either part, they were either imprisoned, or more commonly, terminated.
The Patriot Act directly violates the fourth amendment because of it searches through American people’s private devices. The United States v. Antoine Jones had concurring opinions, disputes between other judges, and other complicated interpretations of the constitution. If this is how the justices are seeing the case with Jones shouldn’t they look at the government. Through the Patriot Act the government is doing this everyday, and there is nothing being done
Civil liberties have been affected since the 9/11 events by the Patriot Act. According to N.A. (2003) “The Patriot Act decided to trade away certain civil liberties in exchange for what it hoped would be more security”. As said, the act meanwhile is concerned on providing effective security measures for people in the country, has encroached on freedoms. Like any restrictive law, it has been controversial. For example “many immigrants who had lived in the United States for decades have been rounded up and deported for minor visa violations, not for any connection to terrorism” stated N.A. (2003).
The patriot Act was an abbreviation, meaning: "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001". The goal of the Patriot Act was that it allowed for search of any home when the FBI suspected terrorism. It also allowed for search of telephone. internet and financial records without a warrant. Government powers went beyond the fourth amendment when it concerned issues of terrorism.