Patriot Act Case Study

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Having drawn many of its founding values from John Locke’s social contract theory, the American government holds the responsibility of protecting its citizens at all costs – but to what extent? From the beginnings of the War on Terror in 2001, the American government has enacted multiple policies that have overstepped its legislative and executive boundaries, supposedly under the guise of protecting the American public from the grasps of terrorism. This was seen in the creation of the PATRIOT Act. This was a law that encroached on the rights of the American people and contributed to the deterioration of the normative ideals the United States was founded on. Having been, in essence, revised by the Freedom Act signed into law on June 2, 2015, the Patriot Act is not as relevant as it was previously; however, it remains important in how it set a precedent for how the American government deals with its citizens’ rights to privacy. By looking at the Patriot Act, this paper will argue that governmental agencies should not sacrifice Americans’ civil liberties in favor of an ineffective method of combatting terrorists. The Patriot Act was primarily infamous for its bulk metadata collection. By “allow[ing] surveillance of all communication used by terrorists, including emails, the Internet, and cell phones”, the Patriot Act was used to justify the collection of millions of Americans’ metadata (Diamond). This included information such as the caller’s number, the receiver’s number, the time and location of the call, and how long the call lasted (Diamond). From this information, the National Security Agency (NSA) would potentially be able to piece together information about a specific person. For example, in an example used by CNN, frequent calls to a cardiologist could suggest a heart condition. The Patriot Act went beyond just collecting cell phone data, however – just under a few other provisions of the Patriot Act, the NSA was authorized access to intimate information, such as an individual’s medical history, his/her purchases, and his/her finances (End). In addition, the government was given permission to monitor Internet traffic and email communications and to search a target’s home or business without notification (Abramson). Americans pride themselves in having the right to privacy, free speech, and free association. Having all this information collected, stored, and potentially analyzed came into direct conflict with this core value. Critics argue that the sections enumerated in the Patriot Act could easily have been abused. For example, the Patriot Act authorized roving wiretaps; this allowed one wiretap authorization to cover multiple devices (Abramson). While the government said that this was essential to dealing with “technologically sophisticated terrorists”, critics said that the act’s language could lead to “privacy violations of anyone who [came] into casual contact with a suspect” (Abramson). Similarly, the Patriot Act’s increased the government’s ability to launch foreign intelligence wiretaps and searches – because these intrusions are …show more content…
For example, the Patriot Act didn’t stop Richard Reid from trying to carry out his attack; instead, his shoe bombs didn’t detonate (Swann). Similarly, the Patriot Act played no role in stopping the Christmas day underwear bomber – instead, he was tackled by other flight passengers when his bomb failed to go off (Swann). In addition, the Patriot Act was unable to foil Major Nadal Hassan’s successful shooting at Fort Hood (Swann). Having been ineffective in foiling these terroristic plans in the past, the Patriot Act seems to have little effect on the risk of terrorism in the United States; instead, it seems to function only as a violation of Americans’ civil liberties by collecting information about …show more content…
This past June, the Patriot Act expired, and the Freedom Act was signed into law (USA). In an attempt to resolve its predecessor’s encroachment on civil liberties, the Freedom Act supposedly aims to end the bulk collection of data and prevent government overreach (USA). In addition, the Freedom Act’s measures are supposedly designed to improve transparency – something the Patriot Act lacked – and strengthen national security (USA). While part of the population considers this to be a step in the right direction, other audiences see the Freedom Act to be even worse than its predecessor. Like the Patriot Act, only time may help America determine whether or not the Freedom Act is worth an intrusion on the entire population’s civil

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