A Blatant Violation of Our Rights

Steven Chi

5/2/14

ASA 2 – Section A02
Reading Response #6

In response to “The USA PATRIOT Act: A Sketch” by Charles Doyle

A surveillance system

                The USA PATRIOT Act is one of the most eye-opening, rule-breaking laws that ever passed Congress. After the 9/11 attacks occurred in New York, it was evident that there was a need to prevent something like this in the future. Thus, the USA PATRIOT Act was born. Its purpose was simple: to give the government legal means to preemptively stop would-be terrorists.

                As great as this sounds, this law also gives the government the right to conduct surveillance operations on innocent citizens through wiretapping and collecting data. In light of recent allegations against the National Security Council, this is absolutely horrible. By being a citizen of the United States, I believe that I have a right to be able to call or text people knowing that my information is private. Also, this law gives federal officers the right to arrest and question me just because I may know somebody who is a terrorist. And just because I may know someone who is a terrorist doesn’t mean that I knew he was a terrorist – but by the federal government’s logic, I am just as guilty in that scenario.

                Overall, I do agree that there is a need to prevent actual terrorist attacks from happening, but this doesn’t give governments the right to seize power from citizens doing daily routines.

Questions: How can we revise the USA PATRIOT Act so that it doesn't infringe on the rights of citizens, if possible?