Civil liberties are individual rights that are designated by law. They are legal shields that protect citizens from abuses by their own government. Historically, times of war in the United States have produced situations in which the U.S. government has given national security concerns a higher priority that protection of the public’s civil liberties (American Civil Liberties 1). Americans are losing their privacy to tens of thousands of video cameras operated by private corporations and government authorities. People are being watched when they shop, drive, attend sporting events, or simply walk down the street (Smithsimon 1). Not only are citizens being watched when they are in public, but their personal emails and phone calls are being tapped into as well. This
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Just days after the 9/11 attack, on September 19, 2001, President George W. Bush proposed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), and congress quickly passed the law with virtually no debate or opposition. The 9/11 crisis united the country in the desire to try to prevent future terrorist attacks, and the Patriot’s Act’s supporters claimed that its provisions were necessary to give the nation’s police and intelligence officials the power to collect information about potential terrorists living in the country. The Patriot Act, however, soon became very controversial because it provided for greatly expanded government surveillance not only of terrorists, but of all U.S. residents, including ordinary citizens (Smithsimon 1). People are being monitored not only by their emails and phone calls, but while they are out in public as well. Thousands of cameras, both publicly and privately owned, dot city streets and parks. People are unaware they are being watched. The problem is compounded by the potential use of facial
Just days after the 9/11 attack, on September 19, 2001, President George W. Bush proposed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), and congress quickly passed the law with virtually no debate or opposition. The 9/11 crisis united the country in the desire to try to prevent future terrorist attacks, and the Patriot’s Act’s supporters claimed that its provisions were necessary to give the nation’s police and intelligence officials the power to collect information about potential terrorists living in the country. The Patriot Act, however, soon became very controversial because it provided for greatly expanded government surveillance not only of terrorists, but of all U.S. residents, including ordinary citizens (Smithsimon 1). People are being monitored not only by their emails and phone calls, but while they are out in public as well. Thousands of cameras, both publicly and privately owned, dot city streets and parks. People are unaware they are being watched. The problem is compounded by the potential use of facial